The project, ‘Free Energy: Calories into Electricity’ received funding from IEEE SIGHT in 2019. The team started the installation of LED-based street lamps around the school library in 2019, which were connected to a generator powered by a bicycle.
IEEE SARAWAK SIGHT volunteers installed LED lights around the school library.
The kinetic energy produced by movement was converted to electrical energy using an alternator on the bicycle.
A volunteer connects the bicycle to a generator.
Children embraced the concept with enthusiasm, and were eager to learn about solar energy, physical exercise, science and technology in the classrooms of SK Salak.
A young student from SK Salak uses pedal power to drive the generator.
Sarawak shines
The project aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to provide quality education and affordable, clean energy.
IEEE Sarawak SIGHT chair and lecturer with Swinburne University of Technology, Dr. Then Yi Lung, says there are benefits for the whole community.
Residents of Kampung Palau Salak live peacefully by the Batang Salak river, Malaysia.
“The significance of this project is to extend technology into helping the rural community by applying science knowledge into real practice,” he says.
“This project allows SK Salak to become the first school in Sarawak which connects renewable energy with physical exercise, and it can be a role model among other rural schools for cultivating sustainable technology and education.”
Dr Then also notes the advantages for the Swinburne students who joined the Swinburne Sarawak Student Branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as SIGHT volunteers.
Lastly, the IEEE Sarawak SIGHT group would like to express greatest gratitude to IEEE SIGHT and IEEE Sarawak Subsection for the funding support and also energetic volunteers.