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Harvesting lightning energy

In the past weekend's SLAF event in Roccaspinalvetri (April, 29th / May, 1st), an 11-year-old boy, named Giovanni, suffering from Aspberger syndrome participated in the "Sleghiamo la Fantasia" contest with a work entitled "Harvesting lightning energy". The proposed theme was "environmental sustainability, climate change, renewable energies, energy saving and efficiency, sustainable mobility and recycling".

Giovanni put a lot of effort into this technical realization. The family tried to propose, suggest, but he always refused any help, repeating that his idea was different from what was proposed. Just a couple of days ago, the mother thought of googling any news on this idea. The result of the research was shocking: since the end of the 80s, all over the world, studies have been underway on the possibility of harvesting the energy produced by lightning to transform it for different and eventual purposes, among which chosen and implemented by Giovanni in his project, which is to use this energy to produce hydrogen from non-potable water.

The project made by Giovanni consists in the creation of a power plant which has at the ends two sensitive fans which can intercept variations in the winds and capable of alerting the system. At the apex of the structure a lightning rod mounted on a capacitor has been positioned which, after a lever is operated by a robot, passes the energy to a transformer via a control unit which directs the energy to a storage area . From there the energy is used to transform the water into hydrogen which is stored in a dedicated storage area. The project is equipped with separate waste collection, highlighted by the bins placed on the back and by a green area with a pond, animals, plants and flowers.

This construction of LEGO bricks was greatly appreciated by the judges of the competition who decided to reward the idea created by Giovanni with 3rd place. Result welcomed with emotion and extreme joy by the award winner and his family.

The two images show the creation of Giovanni and Giovanni himself with the third prize (image authorized by Giovanni's parents).