Work of a 15-year-old Indian girl, who had developed a ‘Solar Ironing Cart’, was appreciated and recognized during the recently concluded COP26 meeting.

The 10th class student from Tiruvannamalai district Tamil Nadu, Vinisha Umashankar has also been recognized as Earth Day Network Rising Star 2021 (USA) for her idea of ‘Solar Ironing Cart’. Earlier she has also received the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards instituted by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for her mobile ironing cart.

She used solar panels to power a steam iron box in her ‘Solar Ironing Cart’. Addressing the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Glasgow, Scotland, she said, “I am not here to speak about the future, I am the future”.

She has now become an inspiration for the world for her speech and encouraged the world to move towards renewable energy and accelerate the journey which started with the innovation in 2019, said a senior officer of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The prototype of Vinisha’s mobile ironing cart which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box has been developed by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India in the year 2019.

A key benefit of the solar ironing cart is that it eliminates the need for coal for ironing bringing about a welcome shift towards clean energy. End-users can move around and offer services at doorstep for increasing their daily earning.

“The ironing cart can also be fitted with a coin-operated GSM PCO, USB charging points and mobile recharging which can fetch extra income,” the officer said. It is an ingenious solar-powered alternative for the millions of charcoal burning ironing carts for pressing clothes and can benefit the workers and their families.

The device can also be powered by pre-charged batteries, electricity or a diesel-powered generator in the absence of sunlight. Prominent world leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Britain Prime Minister Boris Johnson; US President Joe Biden, Prince William, founder of The Earth shot Prize John Kerry amongst others were audience to her speech which is attracting a global appreciation.