HOME-MADE ELECTRICITY
C.L.Joy need not worry about power cuts and electricity bills while watching his TV, for he is producing the electricity himself. And all it takes for its generation are few metres of pipe and electric wire, a small dynamo and a battery. And his powerhouse is situated in the enclosure of his own house.
Joy, the farmer, generates electricity by harnessing a very small spring near his house perched on the steep hill of Kulamala, 6 km away from Engapuzha on Kozhikode-Wynad route.
He has been producing electricity for the past one decade without any technical help or financial aid. The ‘dam’ in his production unit is a crude oil barrel in which water from the spring is collected. Using a one-and-a half-inch diameter pipe, the water is rushed down a height of 75m to the dynamo. (Photo of 'dam' and dynamo)
The constriction at the end of the pipe increases the speed of the jetting water that falls on the propeller connected to the dynamo.
The 12V AC current produced in the dynamo is stored in a battery as DC. Again, using an inverter, it is converted to AC and used for burning 3 fluorescent lamps and for powering a TV.
The uncontaminated water, after power production, is used for drinking and irrigation purposes.
"It was my craze to view the World Cup 1990 that prompted me to venture on this", reminisces Joy, who lives on the border of the Reserve Forest. "Had I gone for State Electricity Board connection, power on this hill would have remained a dream. It would have required lakhs of rupees and more than 75 electric posts. But this effort costs only Rs.3000," he added.
Joy’s effort shows how power could be generated by harnessing small streamlets and springs in the hill and forest areas where poor farmers and tribals live.
Courtesy: Shaju Philip, Science Express, Sept. 15,
1998.
Contributed by: Administrator