I wish we did more blog posts to inform you guys about all the exciting endeavors happening at Project Jatropha. Ever since Adarsha and I started college, I have to admit that it has been tough. Managing Project Jatropha along with our college work has been challenging. However, so far so good!
This winter break, we launched a brand new solar energy project as a part of environmental education of our Global Call to Youth (GCY) . During our rural school visits of 2010 and 2011, we observed that there is a tremendous amount of power cut through out rural India. Some teachers told us that they have power cut for 18 hours!! Even during day time, these small rural schools are poorly lit. Many of the rooms lack windows. They wanted to see if there is a possible solution. This led to our 2013 Solar Energy Project involving rural schools of GCY.
Our Best bet was to introduce the power and importance of Solar energy. It was just not about donating solar panels to the schools. We wanted the children to learn the mechanism by which the system works. We wanted them to understand that there is much more to electricity than wires and switches. We wanted them to understand how they can still light their rooms when there was power cut!! We chose the 2-LED light kits for our first model. It consists of two 2.5W LED luminaries, 4.2Ah, battery (12V) with charger in a built-in box, and 5 WP solar panel with cable. This was the easiest in terms of assembly. The unit is portable. It provides 4 hours of back up power.Though we were initially skeptical, the elementary school children understood the concept very quickly. They learned how to assemble and operate the systems. They took turn and practiced the simple operation.
Because of our budget constraints, we could purchase only 3 systems. We chose successful models from our GCY program for this Phase I of solar energy program. 1. Somana Halli higher primary school 2. primary school of Vallalar Educational Trust, Tamil Nadu and 3. A rural hostel for Indegenous children run by Parivarthana. We successfully demonstrated the installation and operation of these units. For our Phase II of 2013, we plan on expanding our solar energy program to 10 more schools. Please help us accomplish our goals by making a tax deductible donation to Project Jatropha.
~Apoorva
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