“Ujyalo” means “the light” in Nepali. Project Ujyalo is one of the initiatives started by Ujyalo Foundation in Nepal.
Project Ujyalo is also known as “A Liter Of Light-Nepal” and is indicted in the A Liter of Light-Global movement.
The main objective of Project Ujyalo is to create a lighting system that is durable, cost effective, environmentally friendly, and community focused.
In Kathmandu valley alone, 12 percent of the waste collected is plastic. Only a small portion of this waste is recycled or reused. The rest of the waste is dumped haphazardly in the community. Therefore, along with the crisis of electricity, people also face the mismanagement of waste everyday. Hence, by recycling these wasted plastic bottles into a lighting system, Project Ujyalo will not only help create light but also effectively reuse waste materials.
The day lighting system is created by using a plastic bottle, water, and sunlight. The plastic bottle filled with water is mounted on the roof, where 40 percent of the bottle is exposed outside the roof and 60 percent is inside the roof. The part of the bottle that is exposed outside captures the sunlight, which is refracted inside the room with the help of water through the other part of the bottle. Depending on the intensity of the sunlight a day lighting system can create up to 55 watts of light.
The night lighting system has a slightly different mechanism and components. A night lighting system consists of LED lights, solar panel, and batteries. Instead of the natural light, LED acts as a source of light, which illuminates with the help of a solar panel and battery. The night system can be used as a dual system both in the day and night.
In both the lighting systems, the plastic bottle acts as a conduit. In the day-lighting system, the plastic bottle holds distilled water and in the night-lighting system, it holds the LED light.