Place in the Sun: Solar powered computing

Dubai : While world leaders debate on how best nations can reduce carbon emissions at the climate change summit in Copenhagen, a Dubai-based professor has been going about a silent mission to help conserve energy.

Jusri E. Devries, an architect and associate professor of interior design at the American University of Dubai, said he uses solar power for a host of purposes in his daily routine from charging his laptop to powering other devices like digital cameras, lights, even remote controls that he employs at home or at work.

Class act

"I also use the sustainable, hand-powered mechanical charger to charge my mobile phone, which is especially handy during emergencies," he said.

"As an architect, I work with light all the time and considered Dubai a sunny country, but solar energy is used in a marginal way here," said Devries, who moved to the city from Arizona four years ago.

Like the solar panels that operate speed traps on the roads, he said the glitzy facades of the high-rises that make up Dubai's skyline should also draw on solar energy to conserve electricity.

"I am not trying to promote solar energy from a political standpoint, but it is an intelligent way of utilising what nature has given us without endangering our health or our environment," he said.

Even in the classroom, Devries encourages his students to use solar-powered batteries and lights.

All about savings

"When we build a 3-D architecture model and study the play of light on surfaces, we assimilate artificial lighting to communicate the idea. This requires the use of light batteries and torches that can be expensive if using the conventional cells. But the use of solar-operated lights helps save energy and money, besides being chemical-free and safe," Devries said. "If we were to use a normal flashlight twice a week for a 15-week course, it would cost around Dh80 for the traditional batteries while a solar torch for Dh25 would last for years," he said, adding that at least 25 per cent of his students use solar-powered lights every semester.

Devries, who sources his products from the Chinese market, said it is a myth that ‘Made in China' products are of poor quality.