“India harnesses hardly .1 per cent of the sun’s energy compared to other countries like Germany and Australia which have advanced technology for solar energy. In a sun rich country like ours, this is an alarming fact,” says Nikhil Gupta, 20, project manager, Nation Building, an in-house programme started by Gupta and his friends to create awareness among school children about solar energy and its uses.

The programme, which started last month, holds workshops for school children aged 14 to 16 years, acquainting them with the potential of solar energy in India. “Tapping solar energy is not as difficult as we think. The problem is mostly of ignorance,” adds Gupta.

In fact, Gupta along with a team of 16 other engineering students including Ankur Gupta, 21, and Lalit Kumar, 19, developed a five-metre long solar vehicle last November, which participated in an International Solar challenge in South Africa. This was the spark that prompted Ankur to initiate a school education programme.

“Since we had finished third in the challenge, we thought that people would believe in what we taught them. The challenge gave us the necessary initiative to teach young school children,” explains Ankur, a 4th year manufacturing processes student and consultant on the programme.

The 50-minute workshops comprise five sections, which focus on the various R&D being undertaken from around the world on solar energy, objects of daily use which can run on solar power and the scope of solar energy in Delhi. There is also a power point presentation which shows how the students made a solar powered vehicle using solar panels. The students have carried out workshops across three schools in Delhi so far and the response has been good.

“We do not charge the schools. The children have shown sufficient interest at these workshops. They are usually surprised to see how easy it is to make solar powered objects,” says Gupta. Through the help of examples, the group shows the school children how easy it is to utilise solar energy in everyday life. For instance, they give practical demonstrations on how to make solar powered pen drives, calculators, solar poly bags and solar powered phone chargers.

“By installing solar cells on a mobile phone’s cover that absorb the sun’s energy and with the help of a charge controller, we can charge the batteries needed to run a mobile phone. Small changes like this can go a long way in lowering our dependence on fossils,” explains Kumar.