Solar Install:Talwada Ashramshala Visit

We went to a remote village Talwada near Dahanu to assess the lighting requirements of an Adivasi School.  This School, 29 km from the nearest Rail station; caters to the most underprivileged Adivasi children, some of whom do not even eat two meals a day in their parents’ home.  Electricity supply by the State Govt. is erratic at best and non-existent for a few days at a stretch in the months of May & June.

The Talwada Adivasi Ashramshala is the largest in Thane District and probably in entire Maharashtra State. The total student strength is 890 and they study (during day) and stay (at night) in the same classroom.

Candles and kerosene lamps are not adequate to read and write at length. Even worse, kerosene fumes are harmful if breathed on a daily basis. The cost of candles and kerosene fuel illumination is more than two-and-half-times that of electrical supply and fifteen times more than Solar energy based illumination.

Solar panels converting sunlight to electrical energy is the logical and “Green” solution to provide adequate lighting for all students during four hours after sunset and two hours before sunrise.  Our two visits were to survey and assess the total requirement of Solar lighting at the School.

The existing CFL bulb was found to have an intensity of 19 lux at five feet from source. For the same range, the Solar LED tube light was 36 lux and the Solar LED street light was 49 lux.  The Solar LED street light gave more even light over a 75 degree cone and was adjudged as “needed only for outdoors”.  The students who were straining their eyes to read at 19 lumens of the CFL bulb found the Solar LED tube light much better for their reading and writing needs.  Additionally, more students could sit and study under a single Solar LED tube light.  Significantly, the teachers present also concurred with this assessment.

Based on these measured lux values, it was decided to propose lighting as follows:  1) Solar LED tube lights spaced approx. 10 to 12 feet apart for classrooms-cum-dorms.  (these are intended for reading and writing, hence are closely-spaced  2) Solar LED tube lights spaced a bit further apart for verandahs where students study at night and bathrooms, toilets, WCs etc.  3)  Solar LED streetlights for generally diffused illumination of open areas, open passageways, water-taps, etc.

The Solar LED tube devices (for study) are expected to deliver full illumination for four evening hours and two pre-dawn hours; whereas the Solar street lights are expected to work well from 7 pm to 6 am as has been amply demonstrated at the neighboring Eye-Hospital.

The assessment survey gave a detailed requirement of total 160 Solar LED tube lights; 23 Solar LED street lights and optional 36 Solar LED tubelights required to be installed. The survey was carried out along with a senior resident teacher with an overnight stay mainly to understand the students’ study requirements in the dark and offer a long-term viable solution.

Solar Lantern & Its Wide Rural Applications

Last time I wrote about solar lantern as a corporate gift, but as we know it at the same time the focus & purpose of a solar lantern never shifts and that is to help improve the living conditions of the poor by providing them with better lighting  ( the bare minimum I feel) and the best we can achieve is through solar, as most of the villages in India still go through an erratic power phase.  In our attempt to spread awareness about the solar lantern our team came up with this beautiful poster depicting the wide range of applications that a solar lantern can be used for in a day to day life of a villager.

Applications of Solar Lantern In Villages

Best Green Corporate Gift: World’s Most Cutest Solar Lantern

Have you ever wanted to gift some something but don’t know what to give? Looking for the best Eco-friendly gift ideas? You’ve come to the right place! The desire to “go green” has impacted the way people shop for everything from clothing, to food, to cars, to pet products, even gifts.
Finding the right green gift for someone isn’t always easy, but we’re here to help with a nice gadget of Earth friendly gift suggestion. It is getting easier to give an environmentally responsible gift, now that buying green is the “in” thing to do (thank goodness).

check out this cute Solar lantern from Belifal:

Eco-friendly solar lantern

A second look at it, and you realize it actually is a token of depiction of the transition from the old harmful kerosene lamps to new age eco-friendly solar lanterns.

It also has a speaker system for the built in FM radio that it comes with and an elegant black push button to switch on the lantern. A closeup of the LED within the lantern is as shown below:

solar lantern inside LED

solar-lantern-with-push-button

Even, while you gift it to someone, be it corporate or otherwise, you are spreading the awareness to save energy and go green.  This lantern is extremely cute and it ideally fits the best gft of the year category of awards.

Solar Cells Break World Wide Record

Quoting From a Solar Cell Article:

“Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have achieved a record efficiency of 41.1% for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is concentrated by a factor of 454 and focused onto a small 5 mm² multi-junction solar cell made out of GaInP/GaInAs/ Ge (gallium indium phosphide, gallium indium arsenide on a germanium substrate).

“We are elated by this breakthrough,” says Frank Dimroth, head of the group “III-V – Epitaxy and Solar Cells” at Fraunhofer ISE. “At all times the entire team believed in our concept of the metamorphic triple-junction solar cells and our success today is made possible only through their committed work over the past years.”

Since 1999, Fraunhofer ISE has been developing metamorphic multi-junction solar cells, which are a special type of solar cells using III-V semiconductor compounds. These cells are made out of thin Ga_0.35In_0.65P and Ga_0.83In_0.17As layers on GaAs or Ge substrates. These materials are especially suitable for converting sunlight into electricity. They can be combined together, however, only by applying a trick called metamorphic growth. In contrast to conventional solar cells, the semiconductors in these cells do not have the same lattice constant (distance between the atoms in a crystalline structure). This makes it difficult to grow the III-V semiconductor layers with a high crystal quality, since at the interface of materials with different lattice constants strain is present that results in the creation of dislocations and other crystal defects. The researchers at Fraunhofer ISE have succeeded in overcoming this obstacle. They have managed to localize the defects in a region of the solar cell that is not electrically active. As a result, the active regions of the solar cell remain relatively free of defects – a prerequisite for achieving the highest efficiencies. Prof. Eicke R. Weber, Director of Fraunhofer ISE emphasizes, “This is an especially good example of how the control of crystal defects in semiconductors can lead to a breakthrough in technology.”

This metamorphic crystal growth now enables the researchers to use a much larger range of III-V compound semiconductors for growing their multi-junction solar cells. For these highly efficient structures, it is decisive that the solar spectrum is divided into three equally large spectral regions by a suitable choice of light absorbing materials. In this way all of the three subcells generate the same amount of current. This is an important argument in favor of a serial connected solar cell, where the device current is limited ultimately by the smallest current generated by one of the subcells. By choosing the metamorphic Ga_0.35In_0.65P/ Ga_0.83In_0.17As/Ge material combination, a solar cell structure could be chosen for the first time that is completely current matched under the terrestrial solar spectrum. This is what makes the structure so

efficient for solar energy conversion and is an important reason for the achievement of the high efficiencies. At a sunlight concentration factor of 454, the researchers in Freiburg set a world record of 41.1%. Even at a higher sunlight concentration of 880, an efficiency of 40.4% was measured.

Photo of the new world record solar cell made of Ga0.35In0.65P/Ga0.83In0.17As/Ge with a cell area of 5.09 mm².

The high efficiency multi-junction solar cells are used in concentrating photovoltaic systems for solar power stations in countries with a large fraction of direct solar radiation. Fraunhofer ISE is working together with the company Azur Space in Heilbronn as well as Concentrix Solar GmbH in Freiburg to make this technology competitive as soon as possible. “The high efficiencies of our solar cells are the most effective way to reduce the electricity generation costs for concentrating PV systems,” says Dr. Andreas Bett, Department Head at Fraunhofer ISE. “We want that photovoltaics becomes competitive with conventional methods of electricity production as soon as possible. With our new efficiency results, we have moved a big step further towards achieving this goal!”

The research on III-V multi-junction solar cells for concentrating photovoltaics at Fraunhofer ISE in the last 15 years has been initially supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF and later as well by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety BMU. Also the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU contributed financially by providing several grants for doctoral students.”

Solar Lanterns India: Enlightening Villages

Project Name:Light My India

Country: India

Region: Vikramgadh, Wada-Vatsalya Prathamik Ashramshala (School)

Aim: The development objective of this project was to improve the life of rural villages by making available affordable, environmentally sound, basic electricity services from renewable energy.

The final goal of this project is to make solar power technology readily available to school children and their respective families, enabling students to study during the evenings.

The Problem:

Wada is a village located deep in the hearts of Maharashtra, on the forest fringe. Electricity has not reached the village as yet. Due to lack of proper lighting, the socio-economic condition of the area is very poor. By the time they complete their daily chores, evening approaches and they are left with no option but to operate at dusk without any means of lighting. This has a serious impact on their productivity as most of the activities after sunsets are carried out under kerosene lights. Unhealthy fumes of kerosene lights adversely affect the villagers’ health, and low luminosity weakens their eyesight.

Vatsalya Prathamik Asharam Shala

The only school in the village, fostering a total of 375 Adivasi children. These Adivasi students live, eat, sleep, and get educated in the same room! They are provided with the basic necessities of food and clothing and when its time for school the belongings are put aside in a trunk.
The only place where education takes place. But not as real as you think. After 6:30, their life comes to standstill, as they are bound to carry out any activity using kerosene lamps which not only has a deep impact on their health but also weakens their vision, not forgetting the adverse effects it has on nature. In addition, the scarcity of the lamps also causes impediments. Consequently a lot of valuable time is lost, which otherwise can be successfully utilized for further studying and extra curricular activities.

The only school in the village, fostering a total of 375 Adivasi children. These Adivasi students live, eat, sleep, and get educated in the same room! They are provided with the basic necessities of food and clothing and when its time for school the belongings are put aside in a trunk.
The only place where education takes place. But not as real as you think. After 6:30, their life comes to standstill, as they are bound to carry out any activity using kerosene lamps which not only has a deep impact on their health but also weakens their vision, not forgetting the adverse effects it has on nature. In addition, the scarcity of the lamps also causes impediments. Consequently a lot of valuable time is lost, which otherwise can be successfully utilized for further studying and extra curricular activities.

The Solution:

Maharashtra benefits from some of the highest levels of sun exposure in the world. This makes it ideal for establishing solar-power as a major source of electricity, which is being done in the following ways:

Solar School Installation

Solar electrifying the Vatsalya Prathamik Asharam Shala has not only been a successful initiative of providing eco-friendly and  bright lighting thereby giving better  education to the children inhabiting far from home & family. Due to proper lighting facilities, students are not only able to study during night hours, but they have also helped in increasing literacy, school attendance and teacher retention.

Project Goods:

The process consisted of conducting extensive research in the school comprising of a total of 7 classrooms which required systematic orientation and installation of solar powered tube lights with an exhaustive task of establishing the solar panels to receive optimum sunlight, thus providing maximum benefit throughout the year.

The solar powered tube light promises to give bright light continuously for 12 hours minimum as against the CFL version. It comes with a 10 year shell life  of the solar panel and LED. A single solar powered tube light along with the panel costs no more than Rs. 2100. Also Solar Lanterns were given at no profit no loss price of Rs. 1600. After a rigorous testing of these tube lights, it proves to work even in monsoons when the sunlight is scarce.