Instead of using the internet just for entertainment, Caleb a past student of Mfantsipim Senior High school in Ghana unlike other 18 year olds uses it for something more productive. He learns how to recycle trash to produce electricity online. In our part of the world where electricity is a big challenge, Caleb decides to help curb this menace by recycling organic and synthetic trash through his mobile bio energy project.
He said: “I decided to apply what Einstein sees as the greatest invention which is compound interest to generate a form of energy (electricity) which will not only solve our power problems (popularly known in Ghana as Dumsor) but environmental challenges”. Some of these challenges include climate change, global warming and reduction in the outbreak of diseases such as cholera and diarrhea. He uses empty cans, polythene bags, rubber band, plantain and cassava peels, wire and cow dung to generate this form of energy. This energy is next to cost free and can be generated into various voltages according to the ratio of materials used.
The use of polythene bags is to recharge the material which reduces the burning rate of synthetic materials that depletes the ozone layer. The energy is supplied to those in rural communities who can’t access electricity and also used by some urban residents to reduce the burden on the national grid.
The project (Brain Power Initiative) was started in Ghana National College and has now over 500 students nationwide who have been taught how to generate this form of energy to reduce the burden on the national grid.
Just like many start-ups, Caleb faced a lot of challenges with this project and said he had to sometimes sleep on the floor in a friend’s hall so that he could do his feasibility studies.
“People cry for things like electricity and clean water but yet someone discovered them. With these motivational words, I decided to also discover a new way of making bio-energy simple and relatively cost-free”.
Caleb hopes to extend this form of energy to all communities who do not have access to electricity by 2020 as a way of reducing the pressure on the national grid. With enough funding, Caleb wishes to make Ghana the first Nation to use 80 percent renewable energy.
Recently (March 2017), he was selected as one of Coca Cola’s 60 Young Achievers in Ghana and this is what he had to say about the feeling: “I got very excited when I first heard the news that out of the over 2000 nominations, only 60 were selected of which i am a part of. This award will serve as a platform to develop a goodwill for myself and prove the originality of my project when seeking for international partners”.
He advises the youth to stop craving for things discovered by someone only but also try to discover something to be remembered for even when they are no more.
Reach Caleb on Facebook @wesleysnipesannobil and Instagram @caleb_wesley_sn