Zayed Future Energy Prize winner shows that low-cost supplies can light up communities

Illac Diaz won the best non-profit prize by creating inexpensive solar lights to be used by poor people in disaster-prone countries, such as the Philippines.

Illac Diaz holds a recycled plastic water container, left, and another container housing an inexpensive solar powered bulb. Both can be used to light homes for as long as five hours. Bullit Marquez / AP PhotoShow less

ABU DHABI // An idea that won a Zayed Future Energy Prize uses little more than PVC pipes, plastic bottles and simple soldering to light a community.

Illac Diaz and the organisation he founded, Litre of Light, saw a need for inexpensive solar lights in communities affected by natural disasters.

The company teaches people in the Philippines how to install the lights when a natural disaster hits. Mr Diaz believes that his organisation’s method is a better option than putting already-stressed people into debt through more costly solutions.

“The Zayed Future Energy Prize is a push in recognition of a people’s technology, that sustainability should be put in the hands not of heavy finance but in the hands of people in social enterprise with small products that can be replicated instantly.”

Litre of Light won the US$1.5 million (Dh5.51m) prize for non-profit organisations that deliver sustainable and renewable solutions, which also have a positive impact on human life.

The concept involves filling an empty plastic bottle with water and a spoonful of bleach to kill algae. The bottle is placed in a hole in the roof where it catches light, so it only works in daylight but can allow, for example, children to do their homework.

“The Litre of Light open-source network is a true testament to the power of innovation, proving that a grass roots organisation can mobilise the skills of the impoverished to find sustainable solutions to energy access,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and director general of the Zayed Future Energy Prize.

Mr Diaz said those who fall victim to natural disasters needed to be taught a new way to deal with them.

“One of the things that is not told about the failure of solar projects in the developing world, especially during natural disasters, is the old way of dealing with it,” he said.

That was to have solar lights designed and patented abroad, and made cheaply in a country such as China or India, then shipped and distributed to another country, which Mr Diaz said could take up to a year.

Solar lighting systems are then sold to affected communities through micro-financing, which can have interests rates of up to 70 per cent.

“They design it to fail, it’s a business,” said Mr Diaz. “What people don’t know is that after two years of finally getting these lights, all of these things break down, so we have to constantly buy new ones.

“So we were saying, ‘If you really want a green economy, you must teach the skills’.”

The Philippines endures about 20 typhoons a year and, on average, about five are considered destructive, with occasional super storms such as Haiyan – the typhoon that destroyed 14 million homes in 24 hours in 2013.

“Right after disasters, there are a lot of women who experience cases of rape, there’s theft, children go missing,” said Mr Diaz.

“What we do is we gather hundreds or thousands of people we’ve taught to make lights. I don’t see why in disaster situations people can’t be more independent.”

Kerosene lamps that are typically used after a disaster can easily tip over, causing fires.

“The Litre of Light programme is one of those rays of hope that we can increase energy access to the 1.3 billion energy-poor people around the world, while creating jobs, increasing safety, health and quality of life,” said Adnan Amin, member of the Zayed Future Energy Prize jury and director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Teaching a response force the basics of installing a solar light is very simple, said Mr Amin.

“It’s about time that in the Philippines we had a revolutionary new way to access sustainable lighting,” said Mr Diaz.

“We can’t rely on importing expensive solutions. Sometimes the solution is low-tech but high impact, like easily-built solar lights, even if we have to stick them in plastic bottles and PVC pipes.”