South African designer and entrepreneur Michael Suttner has developed a test tube sized light bulb with some really important South African home-grown features that are set to revolutionise the social setting of our country.

It’s cost effective and sustainable
It’s safe
It’s powered by the sun and therefore, it’s green
It fits into any 2-litre plastic Coke bottle (you can use a Stoney or Lemon Twist bottle for a more moody effect)
It’s waterproof

The Lightie (granted, not the most creative name in the world, but it says what it is, so it’s hard to argue with that) contains both the photovoltaic panel and the rechargeable batteries that are recharged after only 5-8 hours of exposure to the sun, something we have plenty of in SA. We also have lots of bad drivers here, but we’ve yet to work out how they can help light dark township shacks.

At the tip of the tube is a highly efficient 300 lumen LED that lasts for 3 hours on its brightest setting and around 6-8 hours at a dimmer 120 lumen setting.

Once Suttner wins the 2014 Lexus design award and goes on to superhero the 1.5 million people who die from shack fires caused by paraffin lamps every year and save the millions of others who suffer from respiratory diseases from the same, 702 is going to be scratching for stories of devastation this coming Winter.

The South African public thanks you Sir!

UPDATE 2014/03/07:
Found this Vid of the inventor sharing some info on the Lightie