Solar Alternatives and Associated Programmes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:21, 24 October 2017

Revision as of 02:48, 27 October 2017

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Fr. M.M. Mathew, [[Jesuits|S.J.]], developed an interest in solar energy while working with the student forum on the environment [[Tarumitra]] ("Friends of Trees").<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Sunshine+man/1/78206.html|title=Sunshine man|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref> He went on to [[Gujarat]] in early 1996 to study renewable energy under [[Wolfgang Scheffler (inventor)|Wolfgang Scheffler]], the inventor of the solar concentrated Scheffler community cooker. Mathew then, with the support of the Patna Jesuits, founded a solar manufacturing unit at St. Mary's church compound in [[Patna]]. The [[Ministry of New and Renewable Energy|Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources]] (MNES) approved this venture for use countrywide, and engineers from [[Germany]] and [[Switzerland]] assisted.<ref name=tribune/>

A vocational training program affiliated with the [[National Institute of Open Schooling]] was also set up.<ref name="wikia">{{Cite news|url=http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Alternatives_and_Associated_Programmes|title=Solar Alternatives and Associated Programmes|newspaper=Solar Cooking|access-date=2017-02-21|language=en}}</ref> Among its initiatives the school trains around 15 students a year free of cost, half from the USA and UK, in utilisingusing solar energy. It also provides local peoples consutation and advice at no charge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120315/jsp/bihar/story_15249275.jsp#.V4lj4vkrIrg|title=Church preaches solar power mantra|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref>

In 2014 SAAP hosted a group of students from the [[University of Dayton]] in the USA who focused on solar panels that ran refrigerators in clinics in rural areas, where loss of power causes vaccines to be ruined by the heat.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.udayton.edu/engineering/ethos/student-experiences/patna.php|title=Patna, India : University of Dayton, Ohio|website=www.udayton.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref> These strudents from [[Dayton]] took what they learned back to the [[United States|States]] and produced a solar-powered refrigerator that won the [[American Society of Civil Engineers]] 2016 award for the best sustainable engineering design by a student team.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.asce.org/dayton-students-solar-refrigerator-breakthrough-earns-asce-sustainability-award/|title=Dayton Students’ Solar Refrigerator Breakthrough Earns ASCE Sustainability Award {{!}} ASCE News|website=news.asce.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-21}}</ref>