DILIP GUHA, NEW DELHI: Sparsh, 17 years old teenager, from Patna, India has won among five finalists The Children’s Climate Prize 2022 for his innovation The Thermal Floater, which converts thermal energy from the sun into electrical energy.
This year’s entrepreneurial five finalists hail from the US, India , and Pakistan, whittled down from a list of nominees from every continent and over 30 different countries all of whom make extraordinary contributions to the environment and climate.
Besides Sparsh, Akhila Ram, Samyak Shrimali, Jacqueline Prawira, from the USA, and Eiman Jawwad, from Lahore, Pakistan have made it to the finals.
The Children’s Climate Prize is an award founded by Telge Energi for young innovators and pioneers in the area of climate and the environment. It is an international prize annually awarded to children aged 12-17 who have made extraordinary efforts for the climate and environment. The prize is awarded by the Children’s Climate Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden.
The award ceremony will be held in the prestigious Stockholm City Hall in Sweden where Sparsh will receive a diploma, medal, and prize money of SEK 100,000 to develop his project further. The award ceremony this year will be a digital broadcast, aired November 24 by 11:00 CET ie 3.30 PM IST at https://www.ccprize.org/
Now, enrolled in the National University of Singapore for computer engineering he spoke to this reporter that it makes him happy and proud that he could represent his country on this global platform and spread awareness on significant societal issues and present a sustainable solution.
After winning an international award for Thermal Floater, he felt amazed and told “I was so delighted that I didn’t know how to feel, and as soon as the adrenaline hit me, I screamed with joy because it was the first time I had won at such a level. I am now confident to give a sustainable solution to climate issues.”
Sparsh has an impressive way to mitigate climate change by using thermal energy.
He was a student of Radiant International School, Patna, and has an inquisitive mind said that while he was in grade 12th he developed his idea.
He says “I came from the rural area where power outages are regularly recurring, often 2-3 hours per day. Moreover, there is a shortage of coal, and power outages which last as long as 6-8 hours per day. I tried to do something about it and find a solution to the problem. After much research, however, I realized that existing solutions are often inefficient, expensive, unavailable, or require very large areas of space.”
“After lots of failures initially, I succeeded in my project, the Thermal Floater, the device that efficiently converts thermal energy from the Sun into electrical energy using a complex system to generate electricity up to 10 kWh per day while still keeping a small form factor. It has a modular design and can easily be connected with similar modules to create an array for supplying power to utility and off-grid facilities. It generates electricity by using the temperature difference created by the Sun’s heat and the water it floats on” he added.
On asking why people do not take climate change seriously. He says “there are a few key factors that play a role. It can be difficult for people to wrap their heads around the scale of climate change and its potential impacts. It can be hard to believe that something so significant could be happening right under our noses, especially when the changes are gradual and not always immediately noticeable. One reason is that many people do not believe climate change is real or caused by human activity. Another reason is that even if people believe that climate change is real, they may not think it is a serious problem or something that needs to be addressed urgently.
His biggest inspiration and role model is Sir James Dyson, as his story inspires him a lot because even though Sir James Dyson encountered a lot of failures and got discouraged by the professionals in the business, he managed to succeed anyways.
He wanted to be an entrepreneur with a successful startup and wish to provide services in the field of renewable energy and develop and research newer technologies in the same field.