 |
According to Reuters, for those refugees in the Middle East trapped in Greece, the cell phone is their lifeline - as long as the battery has electricity. However, finding power in crowded camps is difficult, and the power in the cafes is not always free. In the cafe, refugees, both men, women and children, are surrounded by electrical outlets and anxiously wait to call home. A team of students from the University of Edinburgh hopes to change this situation. They designed a mobile phone charging station that can use Greek rich solar energy to provide energy.
At present, the students have installed two such charging stations in the camps. The power generated per hour per seat can be used for 12 plugs, providing about 240 people a day with free electricity.
The idea of ​​a solar charging station started with a visit by one of the founders, Alexandros Angelopoulos, who visited the island of Samos, Greece, where he was the entry point for refugees from the Middle East and other places in Europe.
Every day, hundreds of refugees arrive on the island of Samos. They come from Turkey on rubber boats. All the clothes are soaked and exhausted. After arriving at their destination, they relieved and took out their cell phones to take a selfie. Some people also log on to the news app or Google Maps and plan to travel to Northern Europe.
“Refugees asked me to call my home phone or use the Internet,†Angelopoulos said. Another founder, Samuel Kellerhals, 21, said: "We just want to make some positive contributions to the local community through renewable energy."
The design and construction of the first two charging stations were completed with the help of the Greek solar company Entec. The two founders said that in the process they must overcome various red tape.
"It was really difficult at first, and the bureaucracy in Greece was too serious," Angelopoulos said.
Currently, students are using crowdfunding money to build another three charging stations. There are as many as a dozen refugee camps in Greece. Students hope to achieve as much coverage as possible.
The first charging station was installed in the Kara Tepe camp on Lesbos. Officials and local residents were very excited about this.
"I told them that you should have brought these charging stations long ago, and it should not be one, but four," said Stavros Miroyannis, who manages the local refugee camps. "They promised to install three more, I am very much looking forward to it."
Miroyannis hopes to use solar energy to provide energy for the entire site in the future. Currently solar panels have replaced street lights.
"This is a gift from God," he said, pointing at the big sun.
Isolation Gown,Hospital Isolation Gowns,Reusable Isolation Gowns,Disposable Isolation Gowns
Shandong Shengquan New Materials Co., Ltd. , https://www.sqnewmaterials.com