Business Line 27.04.2013
Students turn junk into light at solar lamp design contest
Using junk material such as coconut shells,
discarded telephone instruments, and wooden boxes students of
engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have shown how it is possible to make
solar lamps for just around Rs 300.
As many as 65 teams from 20 institutions participated in
an inter-collegiate solar lamp design contest organised jointly by The
Solarillion Initiative, a branch of the prestigious IEEE and the online
renewable energy newsletter, Panchabuta.
The competition was held after a work shop organised by
the three entities to familiarise engineering students with solar
energy.
A team from the Chennai-based B. S. Abdur Rahman
University won the first prize in the contest; the second and third
prizes went to Aalim Muhammed Salegh College of Engineering based in
Vellore and Jeppiaar Engineering College. The prizes were given away by
the eminent agricultural scientist and Magsaysay award winner, Dr M. S.
Swaminathan, at a function held here today at the M. S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation.
The solar lamps displayed at the event showed how the
lamps could be made from even junk material as long as you have the
three major elements of a solar lamp – solar panel, batteries and LED
lights.
Speaking at the function, Dr Swaminathan called for an
Integrated Energy Security Policy with emphasis on renewable energy and
with particular focus on solar energy. He said it was important that the
students community realised the importance of solar energy.
Vineeth Vijayaraghavan, Founder-Editor, Panchabuta,
said that the organisers would take the workshop-competition events to
other parts of Tamil Nadu in the coming months, in deference to the
demand by various colleges and universities.
Ramesh Rajesh, Co-Founder of The Solarillion
Initiative, said that the not-for-profit initiative focused on solar
education, research, capacity building and social projects that aimed to
reach out to millions of college students in five years.
