10-31-2006, 07:31 AM
<!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo--> Kalam backs new solar-powered fridge
[ 30 Oct, 2006 1047hrs ISTIANS ]
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PARIS: An idea that germinated on the dusty streets of Ougadougou, the Capital of Burkina Faso, in the mind of a prominent Indian scientist will finally see fruition this Wednesday when President APJ Abdul Kalam becomes the first global citizen to acquire two refrigerator-cum-vaccine coolers, totally powered by the sun.
The SolarChill uses a breakthrough technology aimed at making the process of refrigeration accessible even to the remotest parts of the world and hence help several social causes like the vaccination projects of the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Rajendra Shende, the head of the OzonAction Unit of the United Nations Environment Programme and the brain behind the idea, remembers clearly the moment when the idea struck him, during a bus ride in the western African nation of Burkina Faso in 2000.
"Looking out of our bus window at the children of the rural poor and thinking about their fragile health, it occurred to me that plenty of sunshine does not mean plenty of health. Some children, carrying their sick younger brothers and sisters, were looking at us as if we were from other planets.
"I thought that if we could develop a vaccine cooler that uses the solar energy so abundant in Burkina Faso and other developing countries, and if we develop a vaccine cooler that uses the solar energy so abundantly available there, and non-CFC (ozone-friendly), non-HFC (climate-friendly) refrigerants, it will be an environmentally perfect product," Shende said in Paris, just before leaving for New Delhi for the high-profile acquisition by the President who has been keeping a close tab on the breakthrough development.
Shende says that the President has been keenly following the progress of the project ever since he heard about it over a year ago.
"When I informed him about the project, he was very keen and requested me to keep him informed on the progress. The president could see the huge importance of SolarChill for the developing countries, particularly in saving the lives of the rural children and women who do not have access to electricity and effective vaccines," recalls Shende.
And when the project was finally complete and the team was looking for high-profile platforms for the launch of the project, Kalam was the unanimous choice.
"It was found to be important to get SolarChill known to the world community. I recalled my discussions with the president in 2005 and wrote to his office. I was immediately informed that the president is not only keen to install and operate two units in the clinic of the presidential complex (around Rashtrapati Bhavan) but was very keen to buy these units and not to get them free," says Shende.
The first use of the SolarChill is for facilitating the preservation of vaccines in far-flung and remote areas that don't have access to not only electricity but also other fuels like kerosene.
The vaccine coolers so far being used in immunization programmes work inefficiently due to non-availability or inadequate supply of grid electricity.
Even when kerosene is used for the vaccine cooler, supply of kerosene is not certain in many areas and moreover kerosene is also a contributor to global warming and pollution.
1|2|Next >
[ 30 Oct, 2006 1047hrs ISTIANS ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
PARIS: An idea that germinated on the dusty streets of Ougadougou, the Capital of Burkina Faso, in the mind of a prominent Indian scientist will finally see fruition this Wednesday when President APJ Abdul Kalam becomes the first global citizen to acquire two refrigerator-cum-vaccine coolers, totally powered by the sun.
The SolarChill uses a breakthrough technology aimed at making the process of refrigeration accessible even to the remotest parts of the world and hence help several social causes like the vaccination projects of the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Rajendra Shende, the head of the OzonAction Unit of the United Nations Environment Programme and the brain behind the idea, remembers clearly the moment when the idea struck him, during a bus ride in the western African nation of Burkina Faso in 2000.
"Looking out of our bus window at the children of the rural poor and thinking about their fragile health, it occurred to me that plenty of sunshine does not mean plenty of health. Some children, carrying their sick younger brothers and sisters, were looking at us as if we were from other planets.
"I thought that if we could develop a vaccine cooler that uses the solar energy so abundant in Burkina Faso and other developing countries, and if we develop a vaccine cooler that uses the solar energy so abundantly available there, and non-CFC (ozone-friendly), non-HFC (climate-friendly) refrigerants, it will be an environmentally perfect product," Shende said in Paris, just before leaving for New Delhi for the high-profile acquisition by the President who has been keeping a close tab on the breakthrough development.
Shende says that the President has been keenly following the progress of the project ever since he heard about it over a year ago.
"When I informed him about the project, he was very keen and requested me to keep him informed on the progress. The president could see the huge importance of SolarChill for the developing countries, particularly in saving the lives of the rural children and women who do not have access to electricity and effective vaccines," recalls Shende.
And when the project was finally complete and the team was looking for high-profile platforms for the launch of the project, Kalam was the unanimous choice.
"It was found to be important to get SolarChill known to the world community. I recalled my discussions with the president in 2005 and wrote to his office. I was immediately informed that the president is not only keen to install and operate two units in the clinic of the presidential complex (around Rashtrapati Bhavan) but was very keen to buy these units and not to get them free," says Shende.
The first use of the SolarChill is for facilitating the preservation of vaccines in far-flung and remote areas that don't have access to not only electricity but also other fuels like kerosene.
The vaccine coolers so far being used in immunization programmes work inefficiently due to non-availability or inadequate supply of grid electricity.
Even when kerosene is used for the vaccine cooler, supply of kerosene is not certain in many areas and moreover kerosene is also a contributor to global warming and pollution.
1|2|Next >