If “Be the change” was most captivating mantra that galvanized the millennium, probably “Be the Solution” is something that has left many people thinking today.

A few days back, internet was flooded with news about BloomBox, a highly debated break-through innovation in energy sector (just as cell-phones for telephony and Google for searching sometime back) that aims to empower consumers in energy terms. The company is founded by an ex-NASA scientist and “Be the solution” is their catch-line. Few more clicks and one can easily spot the cost of such an efficient energy solution, which when analyzed, suggests how far it is from making it affordable for a common household especially in developing countries like India. This however has to do with its current output which is more suited for industrial and commercial scale operations. Bloom Energy today claims that it will bring its cost down to $3000 in next 5-10 years but that still does not provide any relief to a common man here. Not there yet.

Speaking with a well settled businessman, Mr. Balbir Gupta, from a small town Salempur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh about how technology has changed the way people live even in small towns and villages; he nodded quite confidently. Although, he was busy getting updates from his salesman over cellphone regarding his Vodafone distribution business, which indeed is making a great living for his family now. He certainly was sure that technology has changed many things.

One problem which Mr. Gupta mentioned that bothers more than anything is a huge electricity problem long prevailing in the area. Whether businesses or households, people only get 8 hours of electricity which is romantically timed such that; for one week, it is in the day between 11 am to 6 pm and for another week it is between 2 am to 10 am. What about the rest of the hours?

Well, we still seek an answer!

Invertors and generators might have brought some relief to the electricity problem, but they are certainly not the most economic sources; carbon print and noise from generators set aside. We talked about solar energy sources which are actively being installed at various sites, but Mr. Gupta was quick to reply that “utna sahi nahi hai, battery ka problem aata hai (they (solar sources) are not that efficient, there are problems with the battery)”; not at all surprising to hear among many other challenges.

Solar, wind, dung and other natural sources have been a great inspiration, yet most of them are not perceived in general as most reliable sources due to extreme weather conditions in India. Although global fraternity has been active in working on alternative sources of energy, including India, this thinking needs to spark every level - including students.

Recently, we came across some examples of young students who have taken this problem to their heart and decided to nail it down for sake of their people. Interestingly Shailesh Upadhyay, an engineering hero at Why?Newton’s My Engineering Story 2009 from VIT, lightened up more than a dozen houses through a simple idea of using Batteries from Tractor used in villages. “Being from rural background, I had a tough time while studying due to power crisis like many others.  Being asthmatic, I had to inhale toxic fumes of the kerosene lamp that worsened my health. Since Necessity is the mother of Invention, this experience gave me a great inspiration to devise a solution”, said Shailesh who designed a circuit to tap into tractor battery to power up one CFL at night. During his early days in engineering college, he shared his dream of scaling this solution to more homes with his colleague, Ujala and tried the idea with 17 homes in Gurera village near Varanasi. They were able to help 30 students study longer with this solution, improve health condition of students and reduce the pollution due to burning kerosene. The number of students passing that year went from 27% to 50% in that village. Kudos!

This initiative was recognized by Ashoka Foundation where Shailesh’s team was granted $500 for their venture and also was invited to MIT (USA) to present their venture. When Why?Newton asked Shailesh about challenges he faced being a student, he said “Besides financial confrontations (we had to spend from our pockets initially), the major challenges we faced were convincing villagersto adapt to this new technique. . They thought that using tractor batteries for CFL might eat up the battery and reduce its  life. They were also worried about safety while operating the gadget considering they might even get a shock. All these were genuine concerns, but we did not give up. We went on to give demos to villagers to prove that using battery for purpose would actually increase its life by 3 months. Not only the solution was efficient, but it was totally safe since the gadget operated well below 12V DC.”

The thought process and conviction that helped Shailesh pull this off was certainly inspiring. He further added “Honest feedback is the key.”

Apparently, a lot of new so called technological advancements are pushed forward without continuous communication and feedback from the end users. This eventually fails the solution making it obsolete over time.

Another example is Gokul Kannan and Ashwin Kadri from MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology designing a prototype for continuous generation of electricity through wind power using an earth bound system is one among stories that everyone can look up to and provide an option to empower individuals promising another giant leap in technology.

Empowering individuals with cost-effective energy sources can do the magic which cell phones have done today, greatly reducing the dependency on public power sources, like once with PCOs. This not only will impact villages and households but can also reduce a lot of cost for small businesses.

A technology like BloomBox might need $400 million in investment, yet solutions to many problems need not be a rocket science. To begin with, students today should learn to fall in love; in love with problems in the society that technology can answer. Once in love, they can thrive to find out solutions by using support and resources available around them.

As much we encourage young innovators and engineers to think through this challenge, we sincerely look forward to a new generation of EmPowered individuals with an all New Energy Catch-Line – what say?