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.

Featuring: The Husqvarna Automower Solar Hybrid

          For those living in the rural areas surrounded by grass, it would be a hassle to continuously trim those weeds and plants with a lawnmower that you may haul towards the ground back and forth. Therefore, it is no surprise that Husqvarna Global Design Centre, located in Sweden, has thought of the idea to create a robotic lawnmower that is able to complete the task for you, whether you are at home, away or even when it is raining outside.

       
          There is four main components to the lawnmower: its body, charging station, transformer cable and loop wire. 90% of its body is made of recyclable materials and it is quite small in size (almost equivalent in size to a carry-on luggage). In addition to its charging station, it comes with a large integrated solar panel. This, in turn, helps cut the lawn in a shorter period of time while having a lower power consumption and an extended battery life.

For more details, click here.

Philanthropy helps NRG Solar Profits?

    CEO of NRG Energy, David Crane, has opened his eyes to the helpless in Haiti after encountering a life-changing experience with a naked young boy of about 10, emerging from underneath his car. He and his daughter had traveled to Port au Prince to volunteer with the Clinton Global Initiative and had left the reception to return to their hotel when they noticed a body from underneath the car. "This kid looked at me," Crane remembers. "There was no life in his eyes. No hope. Complete nothingness. I was so shocked. There were many things I could have done for that kid. I just stood there and did nothing, except act like a dumb American."
    Since then, NRG energy had committed an amount of $1 million through the Clinton Global Initiative and has a partnership with Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) to bring solar power to rural areas in Haiti. Crane hopes that this charitable action will spur the power of solar energy to develop economically in financially poor countries. This also helps create business opportunities in the Caribbean for the company. "The basic idea is demonstrate the flexibility of solar, particularly in distributed applications, and the difference it could make in a country that does not have a functioning electricity system," he said.
    In these last couple of years, NRG and its partners have developed many projects in Haiti to help in terms of their lacking of stable power. They have worked together to install a number of small-scale solar systems such as completing projects in 20 schools already and at a fish hatchery known as Lashto Fish Farm. The company also participated in installing solar panels at an orphanage run by the nonprofit organization, Partners in Health.

So you hear that there's going to be a solar storm coming soon, now what?

When this solar storm hits, there will be panic and chaos, we already established that. But, now what? Well, there'll obviously be a strong sense of wanting to survive kick in; so how do we survive?

First, evaluate where you're living. Are you living in an urban area, where skyscrapers and telephone wires are everywhere? Or do you live in a rural area, where the nearest skyscraper would be 1 hour away?
   Be warned people of the city! If you live in an urban area, chances are the electricity, that you're depending on, won't last once the storm hits. Even water and food sold in supermarkets will become scarce. So, my suggestion would be to stock up on food and water as much as you can because once the storm hits, you can definitely bet on it that those necessities to live will go out very quickly.

Example : Remember Hurricane Sandy?

You may also want to consider having a bag with essentials such as toiletries, matches, blankets, extra clothes, medical supplies, etc.

To read in-depth about things you may need, click here!
Good luck.