India + Renewable Energy = Positive Consequences

     India is growing in its expanding its clean energy opportunities, specifically solar, wind and other renewable energy projects, throughout India. In the last month, the Indian government had announced a $7.9 billion investment is to double its transmission capacity, which was designed to increase access to power from wind and solar projects. For instance, India's installed solar energy capacity has jumped from a mere 17 megawatts in 2010, when India's National Solar Mission was announced, to over 1.7 megawatts. Not only do these renewable energy projects increase India's energy supply, but they also help create much needed jobs.

Grid-connected concentrated solar power project under construction in India

 
     The Indian government and businesses around the country are making significant investments in renewable resources. The investment in transmission capacity and the next phase of the National Solar Mission are example policies to drive clean energy development. The motivations for these investments, in part, are to continue to power India's rapid economic growth and increase energy access by providing modern electricity to the nearly 400 million population in India without access to modern electricity.

Indian Solar Invention Reduces Food Waste

       

       
        A group of Indian graduate students have came up with a solution that helps reduce the problems faced in rural areas in India: food, electricity and income. Vaibhav Tidke, Shital Somani, and Aditya Kulkarni had used different scientific backgrounds to innovate a solar conduction dryer, which helps to dry out fruits and vegetables, enabling farmers to preserve and sell the food at a higher price. This, in result, solves several problems at once as this technology reduces food spoilage, extends food shelf life and allow nutritional retention, helping the agriculture-dependent livelihood earn more.
        Their creation, known as the Solar Conduction Dryer (SCD), recently had won the grand prize at the 2013 Dell Social Innovation Challenge (DSIC), an initiative of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the LBJ School of Public Affairs in the University of Texas. The trio had received $60,000 in prize money to help fund and commercialize their project.

14-Year-Old Solar Invention: Solar-Powered Jug Purifies Water

        A 14-year-old ninth grader from New Hampshire, Deepika Kurup, has earned the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" for inventing a solar-powered jug that is able to transform dirty water into purified water. While visiting India and witnessing the act of young children drinking contaminated water from a dirty pool, Deepika "instantly knew she had to do something about the global water crisis." She had hypothesized that a mixture of chemicals would help to kill waterborne bacteria much faster, cheaper and more portable than current technology. 

        With her talent in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics, Deepika had successfully discovered the appropriate amount of chemicals to create photocatalytic rods designed for placement in water bottles and other portable purifying systems. Once activated with sunlight, the bacteria within the contaminated water disappeared and the water became purified in a matter of hours.

Solar Power Traffic Lights Coming Soon

      With the help of a Delhi-based firm under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, officials of Allahabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) have decided upon installing a solar-powered traffic system within 22 crossroads of Allahabad, India. As part of its pilot project in 2012, solar panels, signal lights and other equipment were installed at four major crossroads such as Subhash crossing and Rana Pratap crossing; however, because of Maha Kumbh's preparations, the project has not been processed yet.
       The AMC had focused on starting the project at the earliest convenience. "Once the panel and other equipment are available, the solar-powered signals are to be installed at other major crossings too," Municipal Commissioner R. Vikram Singh had told Times of India (TOI).
        Last year, the solar-power traffic lights system had started phase-wise after AMC had given a no-objection certificate to a Delhi-based firm. In perspective to the fact that the solar-powered traffic signals has been successful in Agra and Bareilly, traffic police authorities have been coordinating with AMC authorities to bring them also to the city. Traffic inspector Indra Pal Singh had remarked to TOI that solar panel rooms are already in place at major crossings and that hopefully, the lights would begin to work within three months.
        Solar traffic lights are usually equipped with photovoltaic cells as well as having a solar panel attached to the top of the pole, which helps convert sunlight into electrical power. A solar charger regulates the voltage coming out of the solar panel. As this occurs, the regulated power obtained is used to charge a battery. Lighting is produced through extra-bright LED lights, which help produce an array of light that can last up to 4 years and are extremely energy efficient.
        Under this project, the previous traffic lights have already been removed and a fresh system of solar traffic lights are to be installed. The officials have also sought public cooperation in the same regard. Legal advisor of AMC, S.L. Yadev, said, "The project would help conserve energy and ensure smooth vehicular movement as solar energy would be operating the traffic lights. While one electric traffic light costs between 4 to 5 lakh, the solar signal costs around 8 lakh. Solar power is an efficient alternative provided enough energy is stored."

Solar-Powered Computers for Off-Grid Schools

      In 2009, a 19-year-old graduating senior from Hong Kong's International School, Charles Watson, carrying a rudimentary computer, had took off a year from entering a university to travel to Nepal to work on a project he came up with while still in school: to provide off-the-grid schools with solar-linked computing power. "Once I got to Nepal, I was running a blog, taking photos and so on, saying 'We need computers,'" he says. "I did a fundraising run in Nepal and that raised enough to buy 30 computers at $300 each - $10,000 if you include the solar panels."
      Watson, an American who has be raised in Hong Kong, is currently 23 and still is not attending a university, despite being accepted at the University of Illinois, and doesn't plan on attending any time in the foreseeable future. Instead, he is the founder and chief of SolarLEAP, a nonprofit organization company whose computers are often assembled by his parents at their kitchen table, but they are delivering computing power to schools without reliable electricity, or none at all, in countries as diverse as Nepal, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and, he hopes, across the world.
       "As many as 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world's population, remain without access to electricity," he says. Ten countries--four in developing Asia and six in sub-Saharan Africa--account for two-thirds of those without electricity. Unless further action is taken, it is projected that close to one billion people will be without electricity still in 2030.

Charles Watson and friends

        Watson has since branched out to Ghana, where he has installed 24 computers, each running on solar power in off-grid schools. After the projects in Nepal and Ghana were completed, demand in rural communities began to grow. Within weeks, organizations in India and Ethiopia were looking for unique low-power consumption computers to run in schools without electricity. Furthermore, Watson was looking for a way to continue the work without his direct, on-the-ground involvement, and thus SolarLEAP was born.
        Today, he has installed 200 of solar-powered computers in five countries with funding from non-governmental organizations and anybody he can solicit money from. "The transformation of schools is dramatic," he says. In 2010, after installation of his computers in Canumay School near Antipolo in the Philippines, the school moved from last place to a first ranking in its school district. He provided the first solar-powered computers to any school in India. "One in four people around the globe don't have access to electricity," he said. "More than 100 million children don't have access to education and a large share of students fortunate enough to be in school don't have access to quality education materials."

Sachin Tendulkar Helps Light India's Villages

      Sachin Tendulkar, an Indian cricket (the most popular sport in India) player widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen in One Day International, has helped bring light into lives of over thousand residents of Velunje, in Nashik.

Boys in South India playing "Cricket"

Last year, the villagers were specially selected for a pilot project, where they are provided with electricity through free solar home lighting kits, in courtesy to a non-profit organization "Spreading Happiness." Encouraged by the pilot project's results, currently Schneider Electric, a French-based energy company, has another location in India and is offering similar benefits to over 25,000 villages across the country to celebrate Tendulkar's 40th birthday this Wednesday.
     This initiative actually has been started when Tendulkar was introduced to Schneider Electric's "In-Diya Lighting System," an innovative, affordable and flexible solution to bring reliable, efficient and green lighting to people living without proper electricity access. "In-Diya is a specially designed LED-based lighting system that operates on main power supply and/or solar power. It provides a backup of 8-15 hours for indoor use with 50,000 hours of lighting across its life-cycle," said an official.
      Aware of such challenges faced by many Indian villages, Tendulkar expressed a desire to Schneider Electric to help use "In-Diya" to light up the lives of Indian villagers, whom have been living in the darkness for years. "Sachin Tendulkar and Schneider Electric India have come together for 'Spreading Happiness,' a non-profit organization, to provide access to rural electrification by installing solar home lighting systems for the benefit of over 25,000 villagers in India," Schneider Electric said in a release. "This initiative has already begun a pilot project in Nashik and is currently impacting over 1,000 villagers," it added. Commenting on the initiative, Tendulkar said: "As a country, we cannot have our citizens still struggle with darkness in their lives with the setting of the sun. We have to use advancements in technology and the capabilities of international majors like Schneider Electric to deploy solutions which can brighten the lives of our countrymen."

Sachin Tendulkar

India is installing Solar Power

            Mercom Capital Group, a clean energy consulting company, has announced that India is most likely installing 1300-1400 megawatts of solar power this year. They also claimed that India has installed 980 megawatts last year than the expecting number of 1,090 megawatts. Mercom Capital Group's CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu has said "the difference was largely due to delays in Gujurat  to commission 144.5 megawatts of photovoltaic projects."
           The installations accumulating in India currently is said to be over 1,200 megawatts and if Mercom's predictions are correct: India is likely to add to the number 1,300 to 1,400 more megawatts of solar power. The Indian solar power installations, however, has been arranged and overseen by Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSU), which also holds a goal to install 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022, and various state policies and state RPOs (renewable portfolio obligations). Renewable portfolio obligations are regulations that requires increased production of energy from renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, biomass and giothermal.
         Meanwhile, global solar installation numbers for 2012 are likely to be in the 30-32 gigawatt range and in 2013, solar installations may possibly hit 34.5 gigawatts of solar power. Prabhu also notes that "based on current forecasts, it looks like the significant share of installations in 2013 will come from emerging markets like China, Japan, and India."

Villagers inspect solar panels at the Gujurat Solar Park in Charanka village, in Gujurat state. Research suggests that the state, along with Rajasthan and Karnataka, is flooded with enough sunlight to accommodate large solar power plants.

Did you know a bug can actually produce electricity?

This here is what is known for as the oriental hornet. Like many other insects or hornets, it is able to digest other insects. It lives in many areas of the western Mediterranean and India region, specifically in Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afganistan, and the list goes on. 

So, how does this oriental hornet actually produce electricity?
    Well, the hornet's exoskeleton and the silk surrounding the pupae and its comb walls conduct electricity. The yellow stripe on its abdomen is capable of harvesting the sun's light and converting it into electricity. Its brown exoskeleton traps the sunlight, instead of it being reflected off the hornet's body.

But, how exactly does it work so that they can produce electricity?

      Within the oriental hornet's body, there are pigments that actually captures the energy of the sun's rays. Dr. Plotkin, whom was the researcher who discovered that the oriental hornet's abilities, commented that "the pigment melanin gives the hornet its dominant brown color; the pigment xanthopterin, in the head and abdomen in a form of stripes and bands, gives the Oriental hornet its bright yellow color." He also claims that "xanthopterin works as a light harvesting molecule transforming light into natural energy." This also explains why they become more active during the middle of the day, when the sunlight may be most intense.