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Lab powered by sun - Solar energy debut in college

Asutosh College, in south Calcutta, has become the first college in the state to use solar power. A 73-watt panel, set up on the roof of the college with help from the West Bengal Renewable Energy Resource Development Agency, is powering instruments in the physics, electronics and computer laboratories for the past 10 days. Asutosh College principal Debabrata Chowdhury said: "The use of non-conventional source of energy is likely to increase the life span of sophisticated instruments in the laboratories. This is one of reasons we opted for solar energy.'