College of Science and Technology (CST) in collaboration with Tarayana Foundation (TF) has successfully implemented project on low cost solar water heating system on 2nd June 2017.
This is the 5th year of collaboration between CST and TF. The past projects includes:
- Low Cost Solar Dryer (year 2013)
- Low Cost Water Filter (year 2014)
- Low Cost Insulation Material (year 2015)
- Low Cost Solar Fencing ( year 2016)
As in the past, the preference is given to prototype fabricated using locally available materials and be low cost, so that it is affordable to rural communities. For low-income people, it is important to find appropriate solutions taking into consideration the local economy of the people and local entrepreneurs, as well as the available skills, tools, materials and other resources to create affordable products for an improved living conditions and livelihood.
The purpose of this partnership is to work together to put forward a competition among the Engineering students in the CST to develop the models best suited to Bhutanese conditions. The selected models are replicated and distributed to rural communities for improving their livelihood and the dependence on the fossil fuel.
This year, out of nineteen proposals from student groups from various programs, only best five were selected. In two months’ time, the selected groups had to optimize their design and fabricate it.
Two months of hard work finally ended today with groups presenting their design and demonstrating the working model to the jury members. The jury members included experts and engineers from Phuentsholing Thromde, Department of Renewable Energy, Tarayana Foundation and CST. Among the five participating groups best three were selected based on their originality, efficiency, affordability, marketability and materials used. Certificates and cash prizes of Nu. 30,000/-, Nu. 20,000/-, and Nu. 10,000/- were awarded to winning team, 1st Runner-up team and 2nd Runner-up team respectively.