Innovation Provides Light and Water

For people living in the poor villages on Chile’s coastline, clean water is scarce and power comes through unreliable electric lines. There is plenty of water, but they can’t drink it because it’s too salty. There’s also a lot of sunshine, but nothing to harness its energy. Henry Glogau has created an inexpensive devicethat takes advantage of these abundant resources: a solar-powered lighting fixture that desalinates water. It can purify 440 ml of water a day, and the salt that is extracted goes into the batteries of an LED strip for light at night. During the day the light is powered by a small solar panel.