Turning traffic into energy

TDT | Manama                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahraini students have developed an ingenious and ‘smart’ way to light-up highways in the Kingdom. Intelligent lights, as the students call them, work by generating power using sunlight and the air vortexes created by vehicles speeding past.

So, the greater the traffic, the greater will be the power generation! The brains behind this innovative idea and device are students from the Computer Technologies and Welding and Fabrication Departments at Al Jabriya Secondary Technical Boys School.

Ahmed Abdel Shaheed, Issa Ibrahim, Reda Ali, Mohamed Qahtan and Ahmed Attia came up with the idea and created the system using recycled materials. They designed four electric lamp poles and linked them to lithium batteries that power up using solar energy and air vortexes generated by vehicles.

“This also makes the technology environmentally friendly and energy conserving,” the students explain. The welding and fabrication department worked on the metal structure, while the computer technology department took care of electrical and electronic requirements.

Mahmoud Abu Al-Yazid, the teacher supervising the project, said the project demonstrates the quality of the technical and vocational education system. “The curriculum here helps students well prepared for modern-day jobs,” Al Yazid said.

He added: “The smart lighting project shows how the students are utilising their theoretical and practical experience to solve everyday issues through innovative solutions.” Majid Salman, a career counsellor at the school, said they are striving to become a centre of advanced skill that meets the labour market requirements.