Earlier this month six students from St Thomas of Canterbury College in Christchurch were joined by former Prime Minister Helen Clark to launch their ‘Lion Emergency Power Generator’. Since then, the product has sold out at Mitre 10 and yesterday a national organisation ordered one for each of its offices around the country.
The project was part of the Lion Foundation’s Young Enterprise Scheme, which the College has been involved in for around 10 years. Participation is voluntary and profits and any prize money is donated back to the community.
Their creation is a sustainable heat transfer device which works by generating electricity from waste heat. It powers lights, radios and cell phones.
They also wanted to create a product which would assist the global community, and sent one of their generators, along with a solar panel, to a village in Arusha, Tanzania.
Year 12 St Thomas of Canterbury student Craig Stanton said, “From a simple vision of making a difference to two communities, our own and a global community, we six school students have made a difference. We have assisted our neighbours and also a community in Tanzania 13 000 km away”.
Full Story: catholic.org.nz