While visiting the desert with her family during winter, 13-year-old Fatima Al Kaabi realised that there were no facilities to charge her mobile phone.

"Then I started working on a solution and invented a solar bag,” she told the audience at the second Eco Club Summit organised recently by the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD). Her solar bag can charge electronic devices, power lights and a fan for trekkers in remote areas. Fatima, one of the youngest Emirati girl innovators, narrated the stories behind many of her inventions to a packed audience of students and teachers from around 120 schools in Abu Dhabi emirate. She is a student of Sharjah British School and a member of the Sharjah Children's Council.

She said it is most important to have a dream in life. She summed up that message by the audience questions about their dreams.

She was the first-place winner in the Robot Olympics in UAE and invented a printer for the visually impaired. Her other inventions include a photographer robot, cheerleader robot and an electronic belt for the hearing impaired. Fatima has won the Sheikh Hamdan and Sharjah Awards for excellence and first prize in ‘Draw he future of Abu Dhabi 2030'.

Eco Clubs of Abu Dhabi schools displayed their environmental conservation projects which made an impact beyond their school premises.

Al Remah School students in Al Ain managed to minimise water consumption by farms in their area by around 5,000 litres by raising awareness among farmers. Al Hutein School in Al Gharbia (Western Region) introduced water-efficient hydroponics farming system to local farmers, which minimised use of chemical fertilisers by 60 per cent.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Bangladesh Islamia School has power-generating solar panels and a wind tower in their school. The school had already won the Zayed Future Energy Prize for their renewable energy projects.

Al Resala school students in Al Ain invented an Air Machine that purifies the air, which managed to reduce students suffering from asthma attacks. Abu Dhabi Indian School's Super Water Saver project helps save about 55,000 litres of water per day. They also have a food mapping project that calculates food miles of food consumed by students. These findings encourage buying locally produced food with less food miles, which means less pollution caused by transportation of food.

Al Adhwa Private School in Al Ain produces compost from food waste and uses it in the school's green area.

Liwa International School in Al Ain has a grey water recycling system that minimises fresh water and energy use in farming.
Source: Gulf News