UN Secretary General Encourages Low-Tech Sustainable Technology

TALLIN, Estonia — In a speech delivered at Tallin University, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described how technologies are changing the world’s vision of sustainability and how to achieve it.

Sustainable development goals should use the best science, but also have the simplest design and farthest-reaching impact, Ki-moon said.

“Technology and innovation does not always mean high-tech,” Ki-moon said. “Fuel-efficient cook-stoves can cut respiratory disease and save the environment. Solar-powered fans can dry fish, meat and fruit, extending their shelf life and reducing waste dramatically. Water purification systems based on nanotechnology being tested in India could prevent countless deaths from diarrheal diseases for as little as $2.50 per family per year.”

In his address to the university, Ki-moon described one specific technology that has allowed 140,000 homes throughout India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Fiji and Tanzania to have indoor light using recycled plastic bottles. The light bottles, invented in 2002 by Alfred Moser, require just a plastic bottle, water and a little bleach to keep algae from growing in the bottle. A hole is cut into the roof of a home and the bottle filled with water is inserted and sealed. The bottle then amplifies sunlight to produce 40 to 60 watts in the room.

“Where electricity is expensive or unavailable, the lamps mean people can have indoor light in the daytime without the expense and health effects of kerosene. Some people use the lamps to grow food on small hydroponic farms,” Ki-Moon said.

Currently, solar bottle lights are being installed in more than 2,000 homes, schools and microbusinesses on the island of Bohol in the Philippines. After being affected by super typhoon Haiyan and situated on the epicenter of the largest earthquake in 2013, Bohol’s poor families typically live in very small dark homes, according to Robin Guerney, project director with Andakidz, the Estonian nonprofit heading the initiative. The cheap, up-cycled bottles will bring indoor light to buildings that would otherwise not have the opportunity to use electricity, Gurney added.

The project is funded through the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as private and corporate donors.

“The Committee of Estonian Development Cooperation chose to support this development aid project not just because of the innovation involved but also because it’s a great example of sustainable and environmentally friendly technology,” said Kaili Terras, director of the Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid Division of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, in a statement.