delighted to showcase the work of GCU
students, how they have taken a pupil’s
drawing of an idea and made it into not
only a physical object, but a wonderfully
engineered and useful one at that. Our
aim is to encourage the creativity of
young people in solving problems and
link that to the knowhow of engineers.”
29
Student engineers bring flat-pack wind turbine to COP26
A flat-pack wind turbine designed by a
Scots school pupil and created by
engineers at Glasgow Caledonian
University was displayed at COP26.
The portable turbine, invented by
Douglas Macartney when he was 15
and a pupil at Royal High in Edinburgh,
was showcased at the global climate
summit’s Green Zone on November 7
after the idea was handpicked from
11,000 entries in a national competition
run by the not-for-profit organisation
Primary Engineer in 2019.
The idea has been developed by
several teams of undergraduate
engineers from GCU, working over
several years to create a viable
prototype – including the addition of
two solar panels.
The original concept was inspired by
a flat-pack refugee shelter created by
Swedish furniture giant Ikea.
It’s hoped the turbine may one day
be mass-produced to generate
electricity for refugee camps where
there is no access to a power source for
cooking and lighting.
The device, which can be assembled
without any specialist training, could
also be used to help areas recovering
from natural disasters and in rural
settlements far from grid connection.
Dr Susan Scurlock MBE, founder of
Primary Engineer and an honorary
graduate of GCU, said: “We are
Tabitha flies the flag for GCU at the
UN Climate Change Conference of Youth
Students’ Association Vice President for the School of Health
and Life Sciences, Tabitha Nyariki, proudly represented
Glasgow Caledonian University at the UN Climate Change
Conference of Youth (COY16).
COY16 is recognised as the most significant youth
gathering of its kind with its power to directly influence the
UN climate negotiations. One of the major outputs of COY16
was a policy document crafted by attendees, which members
of COP26 considered as part of the negotiation process.
Tabitha, originally from Kenya, said: “From every session I
attended, and every conversation I engaged in, it was clear
that the youth need to be loud and bold about their climate
activism, using their voices to demand more from our
governments, have more sustainable lifestyle choices and
amplify indigenous voices, particularly those from the Global
South who are just as much affected by climate change but do
not have the resources to combat the effects.”