Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Feb 24, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Feb 24, 2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
Industry & Economy
-
Non-conventional Energy He wants to light up the world Chitra Phadnis
BANGALORE, Feb. 23 MR Arun Shukla, LIC IT Manager from Jabalpur, is an unlikely but enthusiastic votary of solar energy. His invention - a device that promises daylight throughout the day - is on display at the Clean Energy 2003 exhibition. The technology uses sun trackers and mirrors to reflect light into places that are normally don't get sunlight. The operation sounds simple enough. The equipment consists of a sun tracker, which has a mirror attached to it and other mirrors which act as reflectors. The sun tracker does just that - it tracks the sun, aligning its rotation with the sun's path across the sky. The tracker mirror reflects sunlight onto the reflectors, which are positioned in such a way that they throw light into specified areas. In a typical urban scenario, where multi-storeyed buildings stand side by side, shutting out sunlight from each other, residents end up switching on electric lights even during the day. In such cases, the equipment could be placed on the terrace at the top of the building, preferably in an area enclosed by glass. The sun tracker would reflect sunlight onto the reflector, which in turn would send light into the rooms. "A building with 10 floors would need 10 reflectors. One sq. foot of mirror can light up 400 square feet of space." The most complex part of the invention was the sun tracker itself, said Mr Shukla, whose interest in solar energy began in an unusual way. "I was once manning an LIC stall at an exhibition and got talking to the solar energy stall person next door." He found out that the sun tracker was the biggest problem because there is no single formula that can map the Sun's path. The sun's route not only changes from day to day, and differs from one location to another. Mr Shukla claims that his invention, however, is international and can be used anywhere by making just a single adjustment for the day of the year. "If you set it for, say February 22 in the morning, the device will move accordingly and come back to sunrise position the next day."Mr Shukla currently has two models - one Janata, priced at Rs 4,000, which has to be manually adjusted, and a higher end model for Rs 6,000, which is automatic. "My dream is to bring prices down to Rs 1,500 so that it is affordable to everyone." The invention drew interested crowds at the exhibition, but Mr Shukla admitted that commercialisation has been slow, partly because he himself has a full-time job at LIC. "I have set it up in my own house, in some of my friends' houses and in a gymnasium in Jabalpur," he said.He has also got the go-ahead to implement one in his office, the LIC building in Jabalpur."LIC will have to invest around Rs 1.5 lakh, but the company will see the returns within four months in terms of savings on power bills." Mr Shukla is scouting for manufacturers who will commercialise the product.People have been asking him to install the equipment in their offices and houses."I will give the specifications to anyone who can fabricate it. The only clause is that the person should not use the specs to put up more without my permission."
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|