Mountain men!

I am not talking about people living in mountains. Read the following to say wOw!

One man, 22 years, a road!

Yes! Dasrath Manjhi kept chipping away at the hill surrounding Atri village in Bihar for 22 years and cleaved a 100 metre road across the hill in 1982. The road, now named 'Dasrath Ghati', connects the block with the district headquarters.

In 2004,the Bihar government recognized Manjhi’s work and conferred on him the title of Parbat Purush (Mountain Man).

One man, 14 years, a chisel, a hammer, a tunnel!

Inspired by Manjhi, there evolved another mountain man! Ramachandra Das. Das, 53, worked on cutting a hill for 14 years to build a tunnel all by himself. Das’s only companions were a hammer and a chisel. The 10m long and 4m wide tunnel he completed in 2005 is the only connection between his village Kewati in Gaya district of Bihar with the world beyond the hills.

They say about 70 small roads and bridges across Bihar are built by individuals and communities.

More details on Dasrath Manjhi here. More details on Ramachandra Das here.

Source: Wikipedia, Guardian.co.uk  

Solar powered ATM saves money

Mumbai based solar power teller machine saves Rs 20,000 a year.

For the first time, Indusind bank has installed the solar powered ATM at Lamington Road, Mumbai. It has become a new landmark near the colonial era Opera House.

Managing Director of the bank says atleast 100 out of the 500 ATMs, managed by the bank, will switch to Solar power by the end of 2010.

Here are some highlights:

1. Solar power generated in one day is around 6 watts per hour.
2. Solar power generated in a year is around 2010 units. (335 sunlit days)
3. Annual savings from using solar power 8 hours a day is around 20,100 Rs.
4. 1.942 tonnes of carbon emissions are saved in a year.
5. One KW power from fossil fuel releases about 960 gm CO2.
6. Solar powered ATMs are expensive (7 lakhs compared to 5 lakhs). But the extra cost is recovered in 4.5 years by the way of saving the electricity bill.

Read more about it here.

Wonderful to read such news! What a way to go green! Kudos!

Source: Down to Earth magazine, Jan 16-31, 2010 and Globalsolartechnology.com