Brick kiln workers in western UP begin transition to solar energy

Smoke swirls from brick kiln chimneys rise up lazily, clouding around sleek solar panels that reflect the monsoon skies above, the ancient and the very new melding easily across the flat lands of western Uttar Pradesh where solar energy is changing lives in ways big and small.

The harsh summer of endless days of the sun beating down mercilessly has given way to rain and sullen clouds. But the stored solar energy in the panels continues to do its work, bringing down pollution in the traditional brick kiln industry and providing electricity, and digital connectivity, to villages in the area.

Eight brick kilns in Aligarh district's Kodiaganj, Pilakhana and Akrabad have already made the pioneering shift from coal to solar panels to meet their electricity needs. It's a fraction of the district's 555 brick kilns according to a report by the UP Pollution Control Board but at least a beginning.

Om Prakash Sharma, who owns a brick kiln, said the initial costs were steep at Rs 7 lakh but