A resident of the Sierra Leone in West Africa Jeremy Toronka has developed a special installation that allows electricity thousands of houses without much effort and harmful nature. The young man found a method for producing “clean” energy from vibrations in the environment, reports BBC.
The third year in a row Toronka, which is now 20 years old, is engaged in solving the problem of the deficit of the energy supply of the native country, with which he himself faced from childhood. Enrolling in African Leadership University in Rwanda (African Leadership University in Rwanda), a young man founded an innovative startup for the production of electricity Optim Energy.
The basis of the technology is a piezoelectric device that uses the energy of heat, movement and pressure from the environment. When the installation is under the road with intense traffic and pedestrian traffic, it absorbs vibrations and uses them to generate an electric current. Greenhouse gas emissions, unlike classic power plants, while not, because there is no fuel combustion process.
Such a source of electricity has advantages and in front of some alternative installations for energy generation. The work of vibration devices does not depend on weather conditions as solar and wind stations. Another big advantage of the invention is the lack of need for batteries and connecting to an external power source.
According to the organization “Sustainable Energy for All” (Sustainable Energy for All (SEFORALL)), only 26 percent of the Sierra Leone population have access to electricity. In rural areas, most people cannot connect to the national network. With affordable electricity, children will have more time to study and inclusion in the digital environment of the world, and in adults – the ability to maintain economic activity, the representative of the University of Winnie Muchina (Winnie Muchina) believes.
Optim Energy conducted a successful pilot program in several districts, and the population gladly accepted a novelty. Using two devices, the startup provided electricity to 150 houses with a population of 1.5 thousand people, as well as 15 schools. In addition, Toronka has released an online energy efficiency calculator that tracks people consumption models depending on the use of different household appliances.
Toronka’s work received international recognition. In March 2021, he was awarded the “Commonwealth Youth Award”, which annually awarded five young people who changed the lives of their fellow citizens for the better. The prize of 2.8 thousand dollars of Toronka will spend on the deployment of devices in several cities and coastal regions of Sierra Leone to provide electricity to about 100 thousand people by 2030.