mechanics

RENEWABLE ENERGY PERGAMON

Renewable Energy 16 (1999) 1220-1224

RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION FOR TECHNICIANS/MECHANICS T.C. KANDPAL and H.P. GARG

Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110 016, INDIA

ABSTRACT Some of the issues relating to renewable energy educa$on are highlighted. Outlines of proposed course curricula for certificate and Diploma level courses are briefly presented and discussed. @ 1998Published by Elsevier ScienceLtd. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS Renewable energy education; technicians; mechanics.

INTRODUCTION Availability of cheap and abundant energy with minimum environmental and ecological hazards associated with its production and use is one of the most important factors for the desired improvement in the quality of life of the people living in developing countries. New and Renewable sources of Energy may offer an excellent alternative (to the fossil fuels) in this context, if properly harnessed. However, except a few successful cases of the adoption of renewable energy technologies, most of the efforts in this direction, so far, have not been fruitful. While the failures may be attributed to a variety of reasons, one of the inhibiting factors is the lack of a structured framework for providing energy education, in general, and renewable energy education, in particular, to all the people, at all levels, and through all possible modes of education. Unavailability of skilled manpower at the level of technicians and mechanics have hampered the acceptanceof several renewable energy technologies in many areas of the world as the users could not get proper after - sales service for repair and maintenanceof the renewable energy equipment. Development and implementation of appropriate courses for the students joining industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics is, therefore crucial for sustainable growth of renewable energy industry. It is now widely accepted that renewable energy education should be included at various levels in schools, colleges, universities and other academicinstitutions. For creating energy consciousness among 0960-1481/99/S-see front matter 0 1998Published by Elsevier ScienceLtd. All rights reserved PII: SO960-1481(98)00488-l

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the public and also for providing first hand exposure to the basic concepts and their applications proper efforts will have to made at the school level. Short term courses and mass media can also help achieve this goal. Certificate and diploma level courses will have to be introduced for training of personnel for fabrication, installation and maintenanceof renewable energy systems. Regular four year bachelor degree courses in Energy Engineering in general with specialisation in the area of renewable energy and energy conservation shall be required for providing the required manpower for design, development and evaluationof emerging technologies. Finally, for mid-career training of scientists and engineers interested in working on renewable energy technologies or for fresh graduates desirous of further specialising in certain specific aspects, suitably framed post graduate courses may be required. While university level teaching programmes in this field are increasing quite rapidly in India, so far not much has been done in the direction of starting IT1 and diploma level courses. It may be noted that any such initiative would necessitate a thorough study and analysis of priorities and potential of renewable energy education in a comprehensive manner.

OBJECTIVES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION Renewable energy education and more broadly the energy education has to have the entire population as its target audience. The specific objectives of any desirable programme of energy education may include (Badran, 1990; Berkovski 1990, Garg and Kandpal 1995, 1996; McVeigh 1982; Shah, 1990):

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To develop an awareness among students about the nature and cause of present energy crisis. To make the students aware of various types of nonrenewable and renewable sources of energy, their resources potential and the existing technologies to harness them. To develop functional values and attitudes in the students towards utilisation of energy sources and also enable them to appreciate the associated social dimensions(s) of it. To make the students understand the consequencesof various energy related policy measures. To enablethe students to suggest alternative strategies towards solving the energy crisis in future.

RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION AT IT1 AND DIPLOMA LEVEL One of the critical problems being faced by most of the developing countries is the lack of technically skilled manpower. The introduction of renewable energy technologies will be almost impossible without a workforce trained in the skills of installation, operation and maintenance. Presently, in other disciplines, education and training for operators, technicians and supervisors etc. is usually quite general in nature. A competency based renewable energy education curriculum for ITIldiploma level should therefore be developed through

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enlisting of job opportunities in the economy analyzing job responsibilities and requirements for eachjob opportunity finding out the requisite knowledge, skills and personality traits required for various tasks/duties to be performed formulation of objectives on the basis of task analysis outlining study and examination scheme and developing syllabi preparation of the curriculum document

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Thekey desirablecompetencies for renewable energymechanics andtechnicians include: collecting,analyzingandorganisinginformation communicating ideasandinformation planningandorganisingactivities workingwith othersin teams usingmathematical ideasandtechniques solvingproblems hands-on-skills on installation,operation,repairand maintenance of variousrenewableenergy technologies andsystem. For aninterdisciplinarysubjectlike energythe curriculumdevelopment exerciseis rathercomplexand involvedasa variety of compromises andtrade-offsareto bemaderegardingthe topicsto be included aswellasregardingthedepthof their treatmentwithinthestipulated timeperiod.For anITI level course the problemis even morecomplexasa renewable energymechanic/technician is’expectedto knowand undertakemany of the jobs handledby a sheetmetalworker, a fitter, an electrician,a plumber,a welder,a carpenterand severalother suchtradeswhichare themselves offeredas separateIT1 level courses.Thus,besides the52 weekcurriculumpresented in thispaperAppendix-I for theproposed IT1 level courseon Renewable Energyit may benecessary to includemostrelevantinputsfrom the above trades.This may be possibleby increasing the total durationof theproposedcourse(to say two years from oneyear) andoffering the 52 weekrenewable energycurriculapresented in this paperduringthe secondyear of the course.Of courseit wouldnecessitate a very careful and meticulousselectionof inputsfor the first 52 weeksof the courseduration.We havemadea modestattemptto preparea 52 weekschedulefor an IT1 level courseon renewableenergy(Appendix-I)and preparedoutlinesof a Polytechniclevelcourse(Appendix-II).SimplecIassroom/outdoor activitiesandlaboratory/demonstration experimentsare alsoidentified.Thesesimpleactivitiesandexperiments can be usedto reinforcethe theoreticalinputsgiven to the students at IT1 level (andin somecasesto the diplomalevel students as well). Advancedlevel experimentsare alsoidentified.A detailedlist of bookspublishedon various renewableenergytopicsandon energyconservation is alsoprepared.It may be notedthat presently suitabletext booksfor ITIldiplomalevel are not availableand mostof the booksare too expensiveto be recommended for large scalepurchaseand use. It may thereforebe necessaryto encourage preparationof suitablebooksfor thispurposeoncethepropercoursecurriculaare evolved.

REFERENCES RadranAdnan (1990).Towardsthe sustainable useof energy, Proc. 1stWorld RenewableEnergy Congress,23-28,September,1990Reading,U.K. BerkovskiBoris (1990).Renewable energiesfor sustainable development, Proc. 1stWorld Renewable Energy Congress, 23-28September,1990,Reading,U.K. Garg,H.P. andT.C. Kandpal(1995).EnergyEducationat Universitylevel: Resultsof a Questionnaire Based Survey, Applied Energy, 52, 649-654. Garg, H.P. and T.C. Kandpal(1996).Renewable EnergyEngineeringEducation,Proc of UNESCO RegionalWorkshopon Renewable EnergyEngineering Education,Jan.9-11, 1995,Delhi,India. OmegaScientificPublishers,New Delhi, 1996. McVeigh J.C. (1982). Training in Solar Energy CurriculumDevelopment,Report submittedto UNESCO,Paris. ShahEleena (1990).Energy Educution. NorthernRookCentre,New Delhi, India.

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APPENDIX PROPOSED ITI LEVEL WWs)

I

COURSE ON RENEWABLE

OF A PROPOSED DIPLOMA ENERGY

II LEVEL

COURSE ON RENEWABLE

Semester I Laboratory/Workshop 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

ENERGY

Broad Topic(s) to be covered

APPENDIX COURSE OUTLINE

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Mathematics Applied Physics Applied Mechanics Workshop Technology Engineering Drawing

Practice

1. Mechanical Workshop Practice 2. Electrical Workshop Practice

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Theory 1. Commumcauon Techmques 2. Civil Engineering 3. ElectricalEngineering 4. ChemicalEngineering

-‘-‘=‘ry 1. EnergyResources 2. ThermalScience 3. EnergySystemsTechnology 4. EnvironmentalImpactsof Energy ConversionandUtilization.

Theory 1. SolarEnergyThermalUtilization 2. SolarPhotovoltaics 3. BiomassEnergy 4. Wind Energy

I Theorv 2. EnergyConservation 3. PassiveSolarBuildings 4. Enerevfrom Wastes

Semester II 1Laboratory 1 1. ChemicalEngineering 2. ElectricalEngineering

Semester III Laboratory 1. MechanicalWorkshopPractice 2. ElectricalWorkshopPractice

Semester IV 1Laboratory 1 1. SolarThermalandPhotovoltaics 2. Biomass Energy

Semester V Laboratorv 1. Wind Energy 2. Micro-Hyde1

Semester VI Laboratory 1. Energy Storage 2. OTEC, Wave,Tidal andGeothermal Energy 3. AdvancedandFutureEnergy Technologies 4. Instrumentation andControlin EnerpvSvstems

1. EnergyStorage 2. Instrumentation