VENTURE: Tractor-Factor
Posted on 11. Apr, 2009 by Charles Tsai in E-Ventures, Environment, Tech-Ventures, Technology
Shailesh Upadhyay and Ujala Shanker, India – One of the biggest problems faced by Indian villages is scarce electricity to power light bulbs. Electricity is provided only for a very few hours and only during day time. Hence, children are unable to study at night and have to resort to using lanterns, which can contribute to pollution related ailments.
To provide a solution, we came up with an idea of using tractor batteries as an energy source to light 9-12W CFLs. At night, the tractors are not used and they can be used to light CFLs.
One-twelfth of the battery is consumed to use 1 CFL for 4 hours. The tractor’s battery then gets recharged during day time when it runs on the fields or is used for other agricultural purposes. Thus, the net is that we are not consuming any additional power to light up the CFLs on the days that the tractor is used.
We implemented this idea successfully in 17 homes in our village and this was of great help to the students. The whole setup cost was INR 135 (for wires, DC CFL and circuit board).
The advantages of our “eco-switch” system are:
- Reduction of pollution by using CFLs instead of bulbs and lanterns: 240,000 liters of CO2 per month and 2,450,000 kJ of heat per month.
- Improvement in academic performance of students.
- Better health for users by reducing Asthma, ENT and Eye problems.
- Cost Savings for farmers and rural students, and for the Government.
- Increased lifespan of tractor battery.
Tractor-Factor was launched by Shailesh Upadhyay and Ujala Shanker (both natives of Uttar Pradesh) who are currently studying at VIT University. Shailesh, founder of the idea, initiated its implementation to address the issue of power crisis in his village. He faced many hardships while studying at night: due to frequent power cuts and the pollution caused by toxic lanterns, which were used as alternatives. As they say, “Necessity is the mother of Invention” and this experience inspired him to device a solution. Their team also comprises a very active ally, Mrs. Sandhya Pentareddy.
11 Responses to “VENTURE: Tractor-Factor”
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P.Nicolaprakash
08. Mar, 2009
good effort keep it up
save energy for the future Generation
steve
08. Mar, 2009
Hey venturers, great work.
Hope this idea spreads to other developing areas as well.
All the best !!
Katie
13. Mar, 2009
Great stuff…its so simple yet powerful..The best thing is, you don’t need to be a Science major to understand the concept..
Best o luck….
aala
22. Mar, 2009
simple innovative idea ,can be understood & implemented
easily at the grass root level.
congratulations,best of luck
hemant
31. Mar, 2009
thats a really good idea.. i wonder hw come it did not strike people earlier..good work
Charles Tsai
13. Apr, 2009
Awesome video. Thanks for putting it together!
Jay
14. Apr, 2009
A simple yet extremely “powerful” idea – fantastic work! I’m just wondering if you’ve explored the possibility of using LED as a light source instead of CFL. Do the economics work out? Does the higher efficiency enable more lumens of output for the same amount of battery power? Does the cost of procurement of the LED light source prove to be a barrrier? I’d be curious to know if this could boost the effectivity of your solution even more… Keep up the good work!
Jay
14. Apr, 2009
Super idea!
Can the efficiency increase if you use LED light sources instead of CFL?
ujala
20. Apr, 2009
HI Jay ..thanks for your post.. as you already presumed, LED will not favour the economics of a farmer..
Our set-up costs just INR 135 and we don’t even need extra power to light up the CFL..The tractor battery gets charged while running on the fields- we use this power in the evenings..But we are trying to enhance the efficiency of our solution by working on reducing power loss across the circuit that connects battery to the CFL..Hope your doubts are answered..But please feel free to reach me at ujalashanker@gmail.com in case your doubts are unanswered..
Power lamps with your tractor | Ashoka.org: Technology, Invention and Social Entrepreneurship
13. Aug, 2009
[...] information about Tractor-Factor and more Youth Venture Invent teams, check out GenV. Add new [...]
Brett Warner
01. Apr, 2010
Awesome! I hope this takes off, anthing that helps the environment.