Miss Vinisha Umashankar and her Solar Ironing Cart

Journey of Miss Vinisha Umashankar from being a recipient of NIFโ€™s IGNITE award in Nov 2019 to a speaker during World Leaders’ Summit “Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment” at COP26 Summit, Glasgow, Scotland in Nov 2021 | Source: Ministry of Science & Technology

Aย 15-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu, who was recognized Earth Day Network Rising Star 2021 (USA) for her idea of โ€˜Solar Ironing Cartโ€™, has exhorted the world to move towards clean energy during the recently concluded COP 26.

Miss Vinisha Umashankar, a class 10 student from Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu who received the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards instituted by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) โ€“ India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for her mobile ironing cart, which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box is now an inspiration for the world for her speech at the 26thย Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (31stย Oct โ€“ 12thย Nov) at Glasgow, Scotland.

โ€œI am not here to speak about the future, I am the futureโ€,ย she said encouraging the world to move towards renewable energy and accelerating the journey which started with the innovation in 2019.

The prototype of Vinishaโ€™s mobile ironing cart which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box has been developed by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) โ€“ India in the year 2019.

A key benefit of the solar ironing cart is that it drops the need for coal for ironing bringing about a welcome shift towards clean energy. End-users can move around and offer services at the doorstep for increasing their daily earning. The ironing cart can also be fitted with a coin-operated GSM PCO, USB charging points, and mobile recharging which can fetch extra income. It is an ingenious solar-powered alternative for the millions of charcoals burning ironing carts for pressing clothes and can benefit the workers and their families. The device can also be powered by pre-charged batteries, electricity, or a diesel-powered generator in the absence of sunlight.

Vinishaโ€™s efforts have made India stand out as a country that brings innovative solutions for the climate change problem. ย Prominent world leaders like the Honโ€™ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi; Prime Minister of Britain Mr. Boris Johnson; President of USA Mr. Joe Biden: Prince William, founder of The Earth shot Prize; Mr. John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) from the USA; The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Noted philanthropist Mr. Michael Bloomberg amongst others were audience to her speech which is attracting a global appreciation.


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