COP26: Tamil Girl Vinisha Umashankar From Tiruvannamalai Urges World To Move Towards Clean Energy

A 15-year-old girl from Tamil Nadu, who was recognised as an Earth Day Network Rising Star 2021 (USA) for her idea of ‘Solar Ironing Cart’, has exhorted the world to move towards clean energy amid recently concluded COP 26.

Miss Vinisha Umashankar, a class 10 student from Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu who received the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards instituted by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for her mobile ironing cart, which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box, is now an inspiration for the world for her speech at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (31st Oct –12th Nov) in Glasgow, Scotland.

"I am not here to speak about the future, I am the future," she said encouraging the world to move towards renewable energy and accelerating the journey which started with the innovation in 2019.

The prototype of Vinisha’s mobile ironing cart, which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box, has been developed by the 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 the 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. 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.

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Vinisha’s efforts have made India stand out as a country that has innovative solutions to the climate change problem. Prominent world leaders like the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi; Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Boris Johnson; President of the USA, Mr Joe Biden; Prince William, founder of The Earth shot Prize; Mr John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) from the USA; The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and noted philanthropist Mr Michael Bloomberg, amongst others, were in the audience for her speech, which is attracting global appreciation.