LUDHIANA: Also known as “Solar man of India,” Chetan Singh Solanki, professor at the department of energy science and engineering, IIT Mumbai and brand ambassador of solar energy for the government of Madhya Pradesh held an interactive session with students of a city school.
The founder of Energy Swaraj Foundation, who is promoting the concept of solar buses by living and travelling in one as part of the 11 year long “Energy Swaraj Yatra” (2020-30), talked about the philosophical, technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects of energy and climate change. He also demonstrated the “Energy Swaraj bus,” which has facilities for work, meeting, sleeping, cooking, washing and training.
Solanki (48) lives in the bus, which is fitted with 3.2 KW solar panels and 6 KWH of battery storage. It has a 3KVA inverter. Lights, cooler, cookstove, TV, AC, laptop charging points inside the bus are all solar-powered. The engine runs on diesel.
Talking to TOI, Solanki said, “If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, what would he have done to educate Indians about the climate crisis? I believe that the Father of the Nation would have taken out a cross-country march to create awareness. That is what I am also trying to do – travel across India, tell people about climate change and encourage the use of solar energy,” he said.
He warned that climate change was threatening sustainability of life on the planet and drastic as well as immediate action was required to mitigate its effects. He said that the solution was adopting “Energy Swaraj” or generating and consuming energy locally. “Adopting Energy Swaraj will also help in skill development, livelihood creation, energy independence, local economy strengthening and of course, climate change mitigation,” he said.
Source: PTI
