Student Company Ekolim from Nis Makes Solar Panels from Tin Cans

Solar panels made from used tin cans and used for the heating of air have been designed by the members of the student company Ekolim. The fantastic five, consisting of first-year students from the “Bora Stankovic” Gymnasium in Nis, is to present this product at an entrepreneurship contest.

The idea to make this kind of a solar panel was born when they realized that young people consumed a lot of tin cans each day and that they took up to 250 years to decompose. An additional motivation was that Nis is among the most polluted cities, due to many using solid fuels for heating.

– After doing some research and learning new things, we came to the idea to solve both problems through a panel that does not pollute the environment, while heating the room – Ekolim explains.

The solar panel is made of 60 tin cans painted matte black, whereas the casing is made of wood, and the front is made of plexiglass. According to them, the air enters through a hole, passes through the tin cans, gets heated there and then enters the room through another hole.

– Something interesting happened once. We were moving the panel through the city center and people would stop us to ask how much the product costs and where they can buy it. They are delighted to hear how young we are, how we think and that what we’re doing helps reduce the pollution of our environment – Ekolim points out.

They especially strive to raise environmental awareness among the young, because their generation, in general, is not too knowledgeable about the state of the environment in Serbia and the great importance of this subject.

– We are focusing on the young, because they will inherit this world. We also plan to design some other products that help protect the environment. When it comes to solar panels, our aim is to become the leading solar-panel manufacturer in Serbia by the end of 2023, and by the end of 2025, in the Balkans as well – members of Ekolim say about their great ambitions.

Such solar panels are not new in the world, and Serbia now has them too thanks to these young people.

Ekolim

Bora Stanković Gymnasium Niš

solar panels made of tin cans

recycling