Major challenges in energy, education sector

BANGALORE: Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said that the country faces major engineering challenges in the energy and education sectors. He was delivering the 47th Mysore Engineers Commemorative Lecture on ‘Engineering Challenges in the Country’ at the Institute of Engineers in the city on Tuesday. Discussing the challenges in the energy sector, Nair urged industries to adopt wind energy solutions more proactively.“Engineering solutions are needed to develop windmills which work efficiently at low speeds. India has wind speed of 5-6 meters/sec as compared to 20-30 meters/sec in Europe,” he said.He also expressed hope in solar energy technology, calling it the ultimate solution to renewable energy. “Research in new technologies to increase the efficiency of fuel cells and bring down the costs of cells is another challenge,” he said, adding there was more scope for research in energy storage solutions.On education, Nair said that as less as 12 per cent of the population gets the level of college education and one of the major challenges in the engineering sector was to take education to the mass. “Estimates show  to provide education for all, around 1,00,000 new schools are needed. This is  not feasible when you count the added costs of faculty and management. Satellite technology can be the answer,” said  Madhavan Nair.