As Ma Yanjun drained the dregs of his sixty-sixth bottle of beer, there was probably nothing further from his mind than hitting the international headlines for what he chose to do with the collection of beer bottles that his taste for lager had accrued.

Ma Yanjun had a problem – a lack of hot water to the family home for bathing and showering.

Thankfully for his family and for those living in close proximity, Ma Yanjun found the solution to his somewhat fragrant problem at the bottom of a beer bottle.

The accidental entrepreneur invented a solar-powered heating system from 66 empty beer bottles and a handful of hosepipes, which he attached to a board and connected together to allow water to pass through them. He then installed the system on the roof of his house so the sunlight would heat the water as it passed through the bottles before flowing into the bathroom as hot water.

Now to the casual observer, it might seem a little absurd to suggest that a beer bottle could be the answer to a family’s daily cleansing difficulties. But Ma Yanjun didn’t think so and he wasn’t wrong. He successfully generated enough hot water for all three members of his family to shower every day.

And, as Albert Einstein once said, “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”

And he knew a thing or two.

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