Aline Viana
María Sandra Galimberti
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina
Aleandra Scafati
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For been interested in sustainable projects, the students from the technical school Nº 1 “Jorge Alfredo Maciel” from San Andrés de Giles, started to develop, in 2016, the project B.E.L.U. Their main goal was to help a colleague that lives in the rural zone who didn’t have electricity in his house.
B.E.L.U. is a module of energy, created to transform the power of the human movement into electrical energy, through the pedaling of a bike. With this is possible to charge a cellphone and turn on a LED light. Also, B.E.L.U. is a great form to make physical activities and an efficient way to follow a healthy lifestyle.
B.E.L.U. generates alliances with the students, the school, and municipality of San Andrés de Giles and international organizations as “Caring for our Watersheds”, in a very positive context to promote the development of the clean energies in Argentina.
Considering the SDGs we can realize that B.E.L.U. contributes massively, cause it comprehends 3, 4, 7, 11 and specially 17.
The innovation is in creating a low cost product from the reutilization of materials, transforming it into a module that produces 100% clean energy. This module is transportable, and is not necessary to connect it into an electrical network. B.E.L.U. gives energy to the people that live in rural zones, far from the cities, without basic services, and also people with low financial resources, that cannot pay for energy.
The product itself is made of a cylinder for bike training, where the back wheel, of a common bike, is connected. The support that sustains the back wheel has in its center a recycled car alternator that transforms mechanical energy, generated by the cycling into electrical energy. This energy is reserved into a battery. The whole module weighs only 7 kilos, been very easy to transport and keep.
B.E.L.U. was created in a school, where the teachers help their students to think about the community problems, trying to solve them in a sustainable way. They also teach about business, entrepreneurship and how to develop good trading.
More than that, B.E.L.U. is a way to promote physical activity and good health, improving the lifestyle of the people from the community.
B.E.L.U. generates clean energy, improves the health, and preserves the natural resources, creating a positive impact in the community, in the business and in the environment.
The students from the technical school Nº 1 “Jorge Alfredo Maciel” from San Andrés de Giles, started in 2016 the project B.E.L.U. Their main goal was to help a colleague that lived in the crural zone and didn’t have electricity in his house. With this, they created a device, that was adapted to his bike, making it able to generate energy to charge his cellphone.
“I got very involved with this project, because it was interesting, we realize that it can help a lot of people who don’t have electricity and that is why the 2016 school leavers started to develop it.” - Antonella Lladó (student)
This also wants to make people more conscious about the need of preserving the environment, through the use of clean energy. And promoting a healthier lifestyle, battling sedentarism.
"B.E.L.U. generates energy through the physical activity and there is another point, more important. We use our bodies, make exercises, get in shape, burn calories and these calories can be used in our home or in another activity and that is the most important thing”. - Mariano Raboni (teacher)
B.E.L.U. is a low cost product, comparing to any other clean energy product. Is easy to reach people who lives far away from the cities and people without financial resources. As a long term effect it creates sustainable communities, that will be independent and healthy.
It is scalable, because the device can be, in the future, connected in the electrical network. According to the Argentinian law 27.424, the users can generate their own energy and inject it into the network.
Argentina is part of The Paris Agreement, this is established in the law 26.190 and 27.191. Considering this, the country developed policies about clean energy.
Following this perspective, we can say that B.E.L.U. has a big future. This type of business is growing, and the green market is expanding, in Argentina and in the world.
The school let B.E.L.U. available for the students, if they want to keep developing it and turn it into a business. The school goal is to help the students to become entrepreneurs and future business owners, with focus in sustainability.
In case that a student desires to turn B.E.L.U. into a business, the school provides the materials, so with the first contract, the student would be able to start paying back the school. And other offer is that the school would keep helping the student (after his graduation) with the administration part, they would keep helping with the information about quality control, finances, material quality, etc. The idea is that the project succeed and expands, so the ex-student, now owner of the business, could take more students from the school as employees, after their graduation. This would generate a cycle of cooperation.
Till today, 40 students worked on the development of B.E.L.U. Nowadays they are 10. The project is constantly increasing and both, teachers and students are very committed with the evolution of it.
B.E.L.U. is a very economic and efficient product. One hour of cycling can generates 20 hours of use, and also, through a transformer, the tension can be increased, generating 150 watts of power, this would allow to connect 5 lamps (LED), providing light to a house for 8 hours. It is easy to transport and to keep, is undependable of other sources of energy and can be taken to any place. The cost is very low, so B.E.L.U. is very accessible to people without financial resources too.
In 2017 B.E.L.U. was the winning project of the educative contest Caring for our Watersheds, so this encourage the students to preserve and improve their communities, turning ideas into sustainable solutions. This opened a lot of doors for B.E.L.U. and generated the first contract with the municipality of San Andrés de Giles.
B.E.L.U. is a 100% clean energy source and presents itself as a limitless resource. Contributes efficiently to the transition to renewable energies as the main source of power provision. So, it also contributes to the battle against climate chance, to the preservation of the environment, with zero gas emissions. Also, B.E.L.U. can be taken to a place where there is no electrical network, helping innumerous amount of people, improving their health, and preserving the natural resources. And still creates alliances between different sectors of the society, starting in a local community and been able to conquer the whole world.
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Santiago Spinelli, Teacher- Mentor of the Project
Marcelo Larroque, School Director
Mariano Raboni, Teacher
Antonella Lladó, Student
B.E.L.U. is a source of energy for a sustainable future. It takes electricity to places where there is no electrical network and promotes the physical activity as an agent of health. Since B.E.L.U. won the Canadian contest Caring for our Watersheds, in 2017, the network of alliances increased between the school and the municipality in a context of norms and policies that are very favorable to the business of the clean energies in Argentina. Also, allows to the students to develop skills to become agents of change, promoting the sustainability. B.E.L.U., nowadays is been installed in the public parks of San Andrés de Giles, creating a real sustainable community and getting established as a local successful business.