Plastic bottles help South Africans fight energy crisis

The ongoing energy crisis in South Africa has sparked some unlikely solutions. 

With up to 10 hours a day without power many have turned to plastic bottles to help light their rooms.

All that's necessary is a corrugated roof, a plastic bottle, water and bleach.

"So right now we all know that we are experiencing extreme load shedding and all the rest of it, it’s a dismal situation, it’s a dark situation. What we got here is Amandla Elanga which is a bottle globe to solve it for the poorest of the poor and every single person that’s got a corrugated roof, can have a natural sunlight in there, equivalent to a 55watt bulb" (...)"Its natural light coming through, prevents the kids from burning in terms of paraffin and candles and all the fires that happen in informal settlements", explained Daryl Hardy, Joy 4 Africa globe installer

The idea behind these installations is to provide sustainable light to those who have limited or no access to electricity, and at the same time prevent fires that result from using paraffin and candles.

"Honestly we are struggling, most of the people are not working, so we are using paraffin, batteries and solar, and candles, so it is very much disturbing for us", said L&J Resident, Confidence Tsakane.

Last Sunday, South Africa's state power utility Eskom announced it would implement "Stage 6" power cuts, the worst outage level on record, continuously until further notice.