Be Enlightened:
8 Inconvenient Truths
About the SALt Lamp
By Kel Fabie with TJ Dimacali
Admittedly, when it comes to the nitty gritty of Science and Technology, I’m pretty much someone who can barely say anything about the topic.
A re-enactment.
That being said, my curiosity was piqued when I heard about the existence of the Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt) Lamp, a #PinoyPride-inducing invention by Engineer Aisa Mijeno, which really took the spotlight during the previous APEC held in the Philippines, with no less than POTUS Barack Obama and Alibaba founder Jack Ma heaping praise upon it.
Unfortunately, as we found out thanks to GMA’s resident Science and Technology guru TJ Dimacali, we should really take all this hype about the SALt Lamp with, well, a grain of salt. If there’s anyone who knows anything about science, it’s Mr. Dimacali, after all.
Let’s sober up and go back to the school of hard facts, starting with the fact that…
8. The lamp is not powered by salt and water alone.
While it’s nice to think that you just need to put salt and water into your lamp and you get to have light already, it’s not actually that simple. You see, to make the lamp work, you actually need an anode, which is a piece of metal that serves as the actual power source for the lamp. The disintegration of this anode is what produces the electricity: not the seawater itself. The official website doesn’t try to hide this:
In the end, you still need to regularly replace the anodes and dispose of the saltwater. Seeing how the saltwater spent the past few hours chemically reacting with a metal, you can imagine what condition that saltwater you’re about to dispose of will be. (Hint: you don’t want to just throw that back into the sea. Please, don’t.) This also puts into question how “eco-friendly” this product actually ends up being.
Just like Vince texting Kath that he has a crush on her and hoping they’d get together from there, how SALt works is not that simple.
When is it ever?
In the end, you still need to regularly replace the anodes and dispose of the saltwater with metal from the old anode mixed in with it.
7. SALt is non-renewable.
While it seems we will never run out of salt water anytime soon, what you need to know is that with the SALt Lamp, you are not utilizing a renewable energy source, which puts its supposed minimal environment impact into question. You still use an anode that is exhaustible, and obviously, salt water, while abundant, isn’t exactly infinite, either.
This begs the question: why not focus on building renewable power sources instead, in the first place? Surely, coming up with, say, a super-efficient lamp that stores solar power during the day would be by default better than the SALt Lamp. It’s just too bad solar powered lamps are so rare to come by, rainy season worries or not.
So rare, you guys!
6. Engineer Mijeno is not an electrochemical engineer.
While Engineer Mijeno certainly has her qualifications, the fact remains that she is a computer engineer, and not an electrochemical engineer. Not to slag that achievement, but computers and electrochemistry are two totally different things (or so I’ve heard.). This simply means that we need to remember that her apparent credentials do not match what she’s pushing forward right now. That would be like asking Dr. Dre for medical advice.
Dr. Dre BEATS this advice into you… *dodges tomatoes*
5. Even the President of America can get things wrong.
This should be a no-brainer, considering how many people were picketing Obama during APEC, but even he can get things wrong.
Such as being a fan of Coldplay, for example.
Obama is clearly quoted in most articles as stating that the lamp “runs on salt water,” which we have already established as untrue. For as long as most writers gloss over the fact that an anode is required, you can really expect this misinformation to persist. This misinformation is actually a disservice to what the SALt Lamp is hoping to achieve.
15 comments
These kinds of projects must be supported. Who cares if the poor girl invented it or a Pontius Pilate did? The fact remains – it is helpful. Period!
Repost: “Crab mentality is not a valid rebuttal”
Mr writer – don’t you know I have been looking for this lamp for months now? Look at what’s happening to the world – more typhoons and earthquakes. What happens afterwards? Long days if not months of brown outs! Do people care if they need to replace the anode after 6 months?? Because of the likes of you – SaLt no longer produces this lamp. Lamp that can light the household when in need; can power your cell phone, can power a small fan for the babies during black outs. Lamp that can do Greater Good than harm! Who cares about renewable energy. Do you think coal is renewable?? Shame!
Technically Mr. Dimacali is wrong. It “runs” on saltwater even if there is an anode needed. Just like the battery needs lithium, alkaline, zinc, etc to store ions. Hindi pala ito marunong sa science si Mr. Dimacali. Besides the credential doesnt fuck with the results, basically what Mr. Dimacali is telling us, that Albert Einstein and Bill Gates should not to be believed because the former is incompetent in his early days and the latter is a drop out. And the topic of renewable, saltwater is renewable because it is abundant, not infinite. Fuel and oil is scarce, but saltwater not. Aparently Mr. Dimacali got it all wrong and is confused.
The point of the author is that it is non-renewable since it “consumes” the metal anode (and also covers the cathode which makes it unusable after a while as well). So basically, it is the consumption of the metals that makes it non-renewable. And just so we are properly informed, Alessandro Volta’s battery was very much the same, Please, let’s encourage people to invent and innovate but let’s stop people from taking credit for things that have long been invented.
Common sense is not common. I find it amusing that some people can’t comprehend this situation simply and spend time writing this utter nonsense article. Which part of words “improvement and innovation” don’t you understand? MagPower Systems been innovating on the same technology thus the Japanese lantern model. The team improved on similar technology to make it more efficient, that’s it. If the team don’t want to expound on their technology that’s their right. I’ve seen them explained the Science before and they aren’t claiming it’s only powered by saltwater. You should blame yourselves for the lack of research before concluding that this technology is a hoax. Why don’t you question the media yourselves, even the Japanese version says “Salt Water Powered LED Lantern” because it’s easier to understand that way. You guys are funny… And shame on you for resorting to ad hominem, so immature and unprofessional.
I agree with you Evan Stevens inasmuch as your admonition of poor journalism. However, you’re being a little silly on this ad hominem thing.
We however, diverge at the point wherein questioning a Computer Engineer’s (and no one really calls a computer engineer “Engineer”) authority on electrochemistry is labeled an ad hominem when it is a perfectly valid statement.
By the looks of it, the Mijenos themselves just want to talk about their passion for illumination while refusing to discuss anything technical. This is where the crux lies. She needs to clarify in plain simple and explicit terms that she did not invent the salt powered lamp. She also needs to equivocate on the false advertising that this lamp is “sustainable” when it isn’t it has a consumable anode whose galvanic residues are discarded with the water.
She also needs to highlight the inventive step with her lamp as to why a 200 year old technology is patentable as well as practical for her intended use as promoted by poverty porn when competition exists.
From your regards, if the person being criticized is failing miserably in addressing valid technical criticism based on science, -the simplistic retort should be directed against those who question it and their characters.
That is what you call an ad hominem, Evan Stevens.
Well, as far as I know, you don’t have to be an Electrochemist to innovate something. All you need are right partners to do it with. Elon Musk is not a rocket scientist yet founded Space X, Jack Ma is not a programmer yet succeeded with Alibaba. Do you get what I’m saying? Such a pity that you’re a Filipino (I assume) and you don’t get it, I’m American and I do. I guess this is mainly the reason why innovators don’t thrive in your country. And you keep on saying “Galvanic” 200 year-old Science. Yes, we all know that. That’s practically the reason why they described the system in their website as such because people are more familiar with Galvanic than metal-air. If you’re so committed to misunderstanding the whole thing then I cannot do anything about that. I just hope you’re also committed to solving real-world problems and helping communities as much as you are committed in bringing this team down. Good luck to all of you…
Oh Evan Stevens, trying to peg your authority on being American is the worse thing you can really do. I mean, you’re seeking to represent a country that has Donald “Mexicans are rapists” Trump as a preferred candidate by enough Americans. Do you have any control on how inane that is?
Moreover, Elon Musk is actually a Physicist, a course he specifically took exactly because he wanted to understand the mechanics of how things down to a particle-level functioned. So he isn’t exactly NOT a scientist.
And even then, you obviously haven’t run a company. I mean what kind of manager would think that you need to be an expert in a particular field to execute a project that includes that component? Heard of specialization?
I can see that you never really addressed the most critical issues brought forth by this article. Namely the fact that the product is not an invention, and the fact that the lamp is not a sustainable solution as Mijeno et. al. would claim.
I am committed to solving problem without having to use poor people as props and just as determined to do so with a more solid technical and moral basis.
You, apparently, are just committed to being well…American.
“Crab mentality” is not a valid rebuttal.
i don’t like the tone of this article, you could antagonize the idea but not the person behind it. I like the info about salt is not convenient at all, but dude be professional. It’s like reading article of cristy fermin on a tabloid.
Ano ka ba brad? Kailan bang huling nag fact check si Cristy Fermin? Hmmm? :P
Crab mentality at its finest.
I’ll just leave this here:
10 Signs that a Person has a Crab Mentality
http://faq.ph/10-signs-that-a-person-has-a-crab-mentality/
And I shall leave his here for your great benefit, Sammy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pseudo-intellectual-profound-bullshit-study_us_5661acb4e4b079b2818e4020
Thanks for all these info, although the tone could have been more friendly. You so wanted to debunk SALt like it’s hocus pocus science. So… why?
how about because the truth is important and ignorant people prefer to choose what feels good? ang daming Pilipino na madaling mauto, text scam, pyramid scheme, pati simpleng grade school chemistry sablay pa rin ang marami.