“One of the biggest problems faced by Indian villages is scarce electricity to power light bulbs. Electricity is provided only for a very few hours and only during day time. Hence, children are unable to study at night and have to resort to using lanterns, which can contribute to pollution related ailments.
To provide a solution, we came up with an idea of using tractor batteries as an energy source to light 9-12W CFLs. At night, the tractors are not used and they can be used to light CFLs.
One-twelfth of the battery is consumed to use 1 CFL for 4 hours. The tractor’s battery then gets recharged during day time when it runs on the fields or is used for other agricultural purposes. Thus, the net is that we are not consuming any additional power to light up the CFLs on the days that the tractor is used.
We implemented this idea successfully in 17 homes in our village and this was of great help to the students. The whole setup cost was INR 135 (for wires, DC CFL and circuit board).
The advantages of this system are:
- Reduction of pollution by using CFLs instead of bulbs and lanterns: 240,000 liters of CO2 per month and 2,450,000 kJ of heat per month.
- Improvement in academic performance of students.
- Better health for users by reducing Asthma, ENT and Eye problems.
- Cost Savings for farmers and rural students, and for the Government.
- Increased lifespan of tractor battery.”
Shailesh Upadhyay and Ujala Shankar
More here at GenV Campaigns.
hello ma’am,
i am the founder of tractor-factor. Would like to thank you for that post on your blog. Please write back to me in case you have any clarifications to make on the venture.
hello shailesh,
i m the 1st year student of engineering and happened to know abt ur initiative through vit site.I congratulate u and ur team member for winning the prestigious award.At the same time i would also like to query was it ur innovation of electrical circuits or the initiative to make know people about the cfl that led to the achievement and how is the response of the initiative in the village now. Are they still using ur design.
Waiting 4 ur reply mail.
Compact fluorescents are more expensive, contain powdered mercury and often have no more longevity than incandesents. Since proper handling through recycling is unavailable in poor rural areas, their disposal puts locals at a significant health risk. Their only advantage is reduced power consumption. I believe they would be better off with incandesents.
@jcbutte
this invention would be largely helping the masses.
because i think now under the govt scheme.CFL s are being distributed at the same price of bulbs.
Moreover now a days most CFL s are “mercury free”
Shailesh,me being a VIT alumuni take huge pride in congratulating u on ur acheivement.These are the kind of innovations that we need to carry our villages forward.!!!