A Light Powered by Salt Water

Thanks to the Sustainable Alternative Lighting project, rural communities in the Philippines will no longer have to depend on kerosene and candles to light their homes at night. Dubbed SALt, a new device provides illumination using just the power of salt water. One glass of water and two tablespoons of salt makes the lamp glow for up to eight hours.The Philippines is made up of more than 7000 islands, so there's no shortage of ocean water. Unlike kerosene lamps, the efficient light source is safe and poses no risk of fires. SALt turns electrolytes into a non-toxic saline solution, a science similar to what's behind the Galvanic cell. No harmful gasses are emitted during the process, ensuring a minimal carbon footprint. 

As an added bonus, the lamps boast a USB port that you can use to charge your phone.

The innovative creation was brought to life by engineers Aisa Mijeno, Raphael Antonio Mijeno, and Joefrey Frias. Aisa Mijeno thought of the idea while volunteering in the Philippines’ northern Luzon province. She would watch villagers travel extreme and unpleasant lengths just to get kerosene to light their homes. 

“That’s when the SALt Lamp was born,” Mijeno said. “My vision was to solve this problem for the 16 million Filipinos who have no access to electricity—those in the mountains, on small islands, people off the grid.”

SALt is not for sale to the general public yet, but you can send in a request to pre-order a lamp. At the moment, the start-up is focusing on local needs first.

[h/t: Inhabitat]