The solar bottle bulb, which was designed and developed by MIT students, are now being used to brighten up the homes of thousands (with the aim of hitting the 1 million mark by 2012) of poor Filipinos that still do not have access to electricity. The cool thing about this bottle bulb is that is very easy to construct, and can in fact be replicated by anyone that has access to plastic bottles, water, bleach, cutters (for the corrugated roof) and sealant (you don’t want the roof to leak!). In short, just about anybody (including you!) can make a solar bottle bulb to light up a dark windowless room.

So just how much light can you get out of a liter of bottle filled with water? Each solar water bulb gives of as much light as a 55 watt electric bulb does! That’s pretty bright, right?

Room using solar bottle bulbs

So the next time you step into your dark garden shed because of a burnt out bulb, do consider installing your own solar water bulb. Not only will you not need to change the bulb that often (although you might indeed have to change the “bottle bulb” every few years), it will also save you money on your electric bill, however small that may be.

Here’s the link to the step-by-step instructions on how to make your own solar bottle bulb.

Oh, and in case you’re not too sold on the idea, you can of course always just consider installing glass windows on your shed or using Lexan as roofing material. Neither would be as inexpensive as a plastic bottle nor put to practice our RE-USE motto, but hey it’ll still save you on electricity.

Photo courtesy of Isang Litrong Liwanag (One Liter of Light)

The sisters at the Holy Wisdom Monastery would prove our perceptions wrong, though. Their priority is to live a green life. Indeed, they consider green living a spiritual calling!

Run by three Benedictine sisters, the monastery aims to establish the most eco-friendly and sustainable building in the United States – no small feat! According to Sister Mary David Walgenbach, “People who know us see it as falling out of our mission. They see it as something they would expect from us. People who don’t know us, who come into the building, are surprised by its elegance and simplicity. And they ask the same question: ‘Why would a small community of women do such a thing?’” But when we talk to them about who we are and why we think it’s important to do this, and, in our day and age, why it’s even more important that our religious people think about caring of the Earth, then they’re very open to that.”

Their building is up and running and holds the distinction of getting 63 out of 69 points from the U.S. Green Building Council. I think heaven’s on their side!

Welcome to Yurto, the blog about eco-friendly living in the home. Inspired by the yurt, an ancient circular dwelling place built in tune with nature, we hope to explore the ways we can all make a change for the better in the world that we live in – beginning from our homes.

Why is it so important to go green? Al Gore, who woke up the world with his now-famous documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, puts it succinctly:

“…Some of the leading scientists are now saying we may have as little as 10 years before we cross a kind of point of no return, beyond which it’s much more difficult to save the habitability of the planet in the future…”

10 years??? Now that’s a scary thought.  If you have children like me, that’s enough reason to stop procrastinating and do something about NOW.

So from plastic to canvas, wasting to conserving,  lets find ways to care for the earth while we can and live healthier, happier lives.