UPH Electrical Engineering Department Holds the Charity Event ?Solar Powered Street Light? for the Scavenger Community in Bekasi, Indonesia

Have we ever wondered how it is like to live between piles of garbage in a tiny hut made out of recycled materials, in a place where infrastructure is dialed down to a minimum? In reality, there are a lot of families living in these conditions. One of the places being at Lapak Sampah Bintara, Bekasi, Indonesia. Despite living among garbage, these families really are heroes for the environment ? they go through all the garbage to find goods that can be recycled. Plastic, paper, metal, and electronics are set apart and then sent to recycling factories for renewal so that the total amount of waste can be reduced. This vocation holds an important role in the recycling business.

Celebrating the International Day of Light 2018 (IDL2018), Universitas Pelita Harapan Electrical Engineering Department (TE UPH) held a charity event by making and setting up small lights called ?Penerangan Jalan Kampung? (Street Lighting) made using affordable materials, resulting in a cost cheaper than standard street lights. This system is created by Henri Uranus, lecturer of UPH Electrical Engineering department, using affordable materials. The lights were then set up by a group of students led by Josavan Ezekhiel Taniara, a second-year UPH Electrical Engineering student. IDL 2018, which is held by UPH, is supported by IEEE Indonesia Section, OSA Indonesia Section, and Himpunan Optika Indonesia (Indonesian Optical Society). This event is also financially supported by UPH through the student activity budget and also through a fundraising is done by the students.

Henri Uranus informed that this event is part of an annual student event held by UPH Electrical Engineering department, Electro Mega Project (EMP). The 2018 EMP is led by Budi Khusnandar, UPH Electrical Engineering 2017 student, with the theme ?Lucis pro-Nobis?, which is Latin for ?Light for Us?.

This solar lamp system works through a small solar panel that will collect energy during the day, charging the Li battery bank with the capacity of 10.000 mAh. The system, having gotten the energy it needs, will then automatically turn on the LED 3W light during the night.  This system can keep its light turned on for more than 12 hours a day and is already protected against overcharge and over-discharge.

This event is aided by LDD (Lembaga Daya Dharma), a charity institution of the Keuskupan Agung Jakarta, which is currently holding several charity events on the same site.

After a series of circuit redesigning, revisions, and tests at the UPH campus, four solar lamps are finally set up at Lapak Sampah Bintara, Bekasi, on June 9th, 2018, in previously very poorly lighted areas. This is extremely useful for the 200 families living in the area ? they can now continue their activities at night. This project became the initial project, with future implementations in other sites currently being planned.