Running fans, AC on sunshine!
GREEN ENERGY Environmentalist installs 5kw solar power plant to cut electricity bill, reduce carbon emission
LUCKNOW: We all know that it’s time to switch from conventional power and tap solar energy which is so easily available.
However, senior environmentalist, Prof Bharat Raj Singh has taken the lead in the city for the green energy alternative. He has got a 5 kw solar power plant installed at his house in his Viram Khand, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow, which he claims is the first in the city.
“Since its installation, there has been great slash in the consumption of units per day. Earlier I had to a huge amount as electricity bill. The solar panels are generating 20-25 units of power every day. In April-May this year, production went up to 30-32 units every day. The power generated is used to run fans, lights and even air conditioners,” he said.
“If this practice gets a boost and is popularized among the residents of the city, the day is not far when people shall be rid of heavy electricity bills and start contributing in reduction of carbon emission by installing solar power plant,” said Prof Singh, director in School of Management Sciences, Lucknow. After subsidy, he spent about `4 lakh to install the solar panels.
Singh has appealed to the residents of the city to gain knowledge about solar power plant for generation of electricity at a low cost and do their bit to save the environment to some extent.
If the entire Lucknow switches over to solar panels, the state electricity board will be able to supply more power to remote villages in the state where electricity is available just for a few hours.
Singh has also taken a few initiatives to create awareness among the residents of the city for installing solar power plants in their houses. He held seminars and workshops to spread the message.
This environmentalist first shot to fame when he earned a place in Limca Book of Records for co-inventing first compressed air-powered bike called Air-O-Bike with Prof Onkar Singh of Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, UP.
They had developed an air turbine engine with a capacity to generate 5.5 HP (4.1 kW) power by using compressed air as fuel.
The air engine can run a motor bike for 40 minutes using compressed air at 4-6 bar (60-90 psi) pressure. The load test conducted in the lab showed that the engine ran at 2000-3000 rpm with load and 10,000 rpm without load. The unique zero emission air engine was notified in Patent Journal of Government of India on April 13, 2012. President of India Pranab Mukherjee appreciated this effort at an exhibition in Lucknow.
Bharat Raj Singh has relentlessly been creating awareness about the environment for the last 15 years.
His three books on ‘Global Warming and Climate Change’ vividly brought out the causes and remedies of global warming and climate disturbance. Two chapters from these books have been selected by the United States under its high school curriculum for creating awareness among the students about environmental disturbances.