Lucknow, 7 June : Pavani Agarwal, a student of grade 12 of Cambridge International Section of City Montessori School, Gomti Nagar Extension, has been honoured by the Center for Science and Technology (CST), Uttar Pradesh, for her environment-friendly and socially-useful project titled ‘Solar Hinged Energy Efficient Terracotta Air-Cooler Lineup 'SHEETAL'. The aim of this project is to find an alternative for conventional cooling systems like ACs, and cut down on high maintenance costs, environmental damage, and high energy consumption. This information was given by the Public Relations Officer of CMS, Mr Rishi Khanna. Mr Khanna further stated that recently, on 6th June, Pavani made a presentation of her project before Mr Ashish Tiwari, IFS, Secretary, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, Uttar Pradesh, where she shared that her project was specially designed for schools and hospitals in rural areas. Mr Tiwari congratulated Pavani’s unique model and appreciated that using local materials, power consumption can be reduced and livelihood can be provided to people. The Climate change and Research team were also present on this occason and appreciated her efforts for environment and energy conservation.

            Mr Khanna further stated that Pavani Agarwal has designed this project under the mentorship of Dr. Abhishek Saxena, Dean of the Department of Civil Engineering at Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University. Using the porosity of terracotta and the cooling effects of water vapour, Pavani has assembled a line-up of custom moulded terracotta pots with water flowing through them, allowing a 75% efficiency level cooling system. The project uses a pump that recycles water to flow, and this pump is solar powered, thus the project has essentially no exhaustible energy consumption. Still in the prototyping process, she has recorded a 10 degree drop in ambient temperature with 'SHEETAL'. Pavani is applying for a patent for her project in India and Europe.CMS Manager, Prof Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, stated that 'SHEETAL' could help communities where A.C.s and such are not affordable, and allow for a change to environmental cooling units in the summer season.She said that the school is  incredibly proud of Pavani's achievements and looks forward to her continued efforts in environmental sustainability.