That's the whole point of using water. It scatters the light.
If you just put a hole in the roof, the light will go straight down. Diffract it through water and it fills the whole room.
LED bulbs still cost a lot. An LED bulb that is as bright as a solar light is around 250 (super cheap) to 600 pesos (regular price).
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Many public buildings, offices and modern homes are built to take advantage of natural lighting. Our new City Hall has a lot of natural light, so even if all the hallways are equipped with LED bulbs, they're almost never on, not like the old, enclosed City Hall.
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The typical baro baro in the slum is built wall-to-wall with the next baro baro... and there's very little natural lighting to be had from open windows. A solar bulb like this is much less expensive than a natural skylight or even installing a light bulb (needs bulb, mount, switch, electrical wiring, etcetera). It can be done for just a hundred bucks (retail... cost to do is just 50 pesos). It's not useful the entire day, but it can cut down on the need for electricity. If it saves a household 100-200 pesos a month... with the only maintenance cost being to replace the water every few months... isn't it worth it?
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It may look funny to us, but it's cost-effective engineering. Which is why people are praising it.






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