Scientists at University of Southampton Use Solar Power in Classrooms

A scientist team at the University of Southampton have developed a solar power solution for generating power for IT resources used in classrooms for the students in the developing countries. This project is led by a Chemistry academic at the University.

A major hurdle faced by the rural schools in developing countries is the lack of hands-on experience for students while working on experiments. One of the reasons behind the lack of hands-on exposure is the absence of equipment, infrastructure and chemicals, which stems from the lack of electric and water supply.

Two professors from the University have devised a novel way to use solar power for providing power to the IT resources at the modern teaching schools. The solution consists of a digital projector and low-cost solar energy panels. One of the professors explained that their solar energy generators come at affordable prices and provide sustainable power to the rural schools. Most of the data/video projectors need a power supply of 200-300 watts; this magnitude of power can be drawn from solar panels supported by mini-projectors. The solar energy generators comprise solar panels, inverters and batteries, this set up can be linked to the projector so that the students can get a practical demonstration of the technical experiments. The practical sessions can be extended to math, craft subjects like carpentry, catering etc so that rural students are exposed to various curriculum in their education. The project was developed by the Chemistry Aid project at the University and was supported by the Royal Society of Chemistry.