Students at the College of Engineering have commenced an energy renewing workshop aimed at solving lighting problems through the use of solar panels and other materials in areas without electricity.  This initiative is by kind courtesy of Professor Toby John Cumberbatch of Cooper Union in New York, a former visiting lecturer at the College of Engineering, KNUST.

The Self Assembled Solar Lighting System, a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States of America, seeks to aid students build upon and practice the knowledge acquired in the classroom by putting it into practice and creating the platform for the students to produce items on their own with little or no supervision.

According to the Professor, the project also seeks to come out with products using the locally made materials which are easily accessible, less costly and easy to repair. Some of these solar products, he said, are already available in some communities in the Northern part of Ghana.

He donated all the equipment used for the practical work during the workshop. Some of the equipment are batteries, solar panels, fuse holders, jack nuts, tool kits, assembled charge circuit, charge circuit boards, switches, lantern PCB and Led’s.

Interaction with students who participated in the workshop revealed that the project is going to help and really equip them with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them offer their quota in solving the nationwide lighting problem.

Professor Cumberbatch has been collaborating with colleagues from the College of Engineering for many years. Under a grant from the NSF, U.S., undergraduate students have been working in rural communities in northern Ghana to conduct research to find  engineering solutions related to the availability and quality of water, energy and shelter. The students will collaborate with a team of Ghanaian faculty and students led by Dr. Francis Momade, the Provost of the College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology..

Usually, the projects combine hands-on, project-based learning and research on appropriate engineering technologies, cultural and language immersion, and pre- and post-travel academic activities to give students insight into how engineering research can address problems associated with the supply of natural resources and the impact of their usage on the environment. Working with their Ghanaian counterparts, the US students deconstructed each problem into its core components, synthesized and designed an appropriate, often minimalist, approach that incorporates inputs from the stakeholders such as indigenous resources and techniques, which have the potential for sustainability. In addition to receiving research training and hands-on experience with the rigorous demands of engineering in a developing nation, the project helps students to understand what it means to live in a different cultural setting; how people from different cultures frame questions differently; and how framing questions differently can have important consequences for how engineering is done and what results are achieved in a project.

Arup, has also supported students and faculty to develop a solution to excessive concentrations of fluoride in borehole water in the Bongo district of Upper East region of Ghana. High concentrations of fluoride lead to dental fluorosis which may lead to skeletal fluorosis, over a prolonged period of consumption.