Clean getaway
IT wasn’t all about cars at the 2013 Jamaica Motor Show held at Police Officers’ Club on Hope Road, St Andrew, on Saturday.
Kimroy Bailey, 23-yearold electrical engineer, used the event to share his message of renewable energy.
Bailey’s booth featured a model house designed to be powered by wind and solar energy.
Also grabbing attention was his award-winning wind turbine.
“This design won second prize overall in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Global Humanitarian Research Competition in Washington in October 2012,” he said.
Bailey said he learnt of the competition on the IEEE website and it was opened to persons across the globe.
“Post-grad and undergrad students from countries including America, Australia, United Kingdom, India, and New Zealand participated,” he said.
Bailey’s prototype garnered accolades on the basis that it is able to operate at wind speeds equal to a tropical storm. Using proprietary electronics, it adjusts the pitch of the blades to ensure continued power production without damage to the mechanism.
“The aim is to get it into full-scale production. I am also trying to raise $2.7 million through the Kimroy Bailey Foundation for the Litchfield Baptist Church and Basic School in Trelawny.”
The money, he said, is to outfit both the church and basic school with the renewable energy equipment to take them off the power grid, thus reducing their operating costs.
“I donated my prize money of US$750 from the competition to the foundation to start things off,” he said.
He said the foundation is at only 10 per cent of its $2.7m goal, but he is determined to reach it.