Faster issue of patents will speed up Lanka’s development, young inventor says
The National Intellectual Property Office of Sri Lanka, the authority that grants patents for new inventions, appears to be a stumbling block for inventors to commercialise their inventions.
The first electric car in Sri Lanka branded ‘Elca’, developed by young Nilanga Senevirathne, is still in limbo for the last three years as he is waiting for the patent to obtain a bank loan to launch his ‘unique electric-turbo car’. Had he obtained the patents and the necessary finances, by now his product would not only have captured the Sri Lankan market, but also would have been exported. (See Business Times (BT) article “Young entrepreneur prepares to take on world with unique electric-turbo car” dated 3/6/2012).
File picture of Nilanga Senevirathne in his ‘Elca’.
Mr. Senevirathne, Manager, Technical and R & D, Lanka Automotive Pvt Ltd, was one of the speakers at the media conference in Colombo this week to mark World Ozone Day and to introduce electric vehicles. The meeting highlighted the importance of environmental improvements by educating Sri Lankans through mass media.On the sidelines of the media conference, Mr. Senevirathne revealed to the BT that for the last three years he is waiting for patents for his invention and had he obtained patents by now Sri Lanka’s carbon emission too could have reduced considerably. Speaking at the briefing, Mr. Senevirathne, as he told the BT in 2012, stressed that the use of electric vehicles is cheaper and preserves the environment to a great extent. He said that global warming affects Sri Lanka and doubled mosquito breeding in the last 10 years as it kills the little brown bats which consume around 500 to 1000 mosquitoes per day and they are dying faster than breeding now.
He also elaborated the economies of the electric vehicle.
Chaminda Serasinha, Consultant, Shigadry With Earth Co (Pvt) Ltd, Japan and International Marketing, Sri Lanka emphasised the importance of reducing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The dangers of global warming is very much visible today he said and pointed out that in the State of California 53 trillion gallons of water has disappeared from a lake within a three year period.
The answer to this crisis is the change of consumption patterns – climate friendly consumerism, he said, noting that to prevent carbon emission there is a need to change lifestyles. Starting with the vehicles is a step forward towards this attempt, he said.
He said that there is another analysis called ‘ecologicl deficit’ where each country is analysed on how much resources it has and how much is consumed by the people and the analysis shows some countries have a surplus and some countries have a deficit. The deficit countries, he said includes Japan, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, etc and the surplus countries include Canada, Finland, Australia, Russia, Brazil and Chile. How drastic is climate change, he said could be understood by imagining a person seated in a vehicle in a desert under the hot sun. If the shutters are down though there is heat, there could be continuous breeze across the vehicle making it cool. But, if the person puts up the shutters and start smoking a cigarette the person would start suffocating, he pointed out.
He said that carbon emission does the same thing in the atmosphere on Planet Earth, which is called global warming. He said that about 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide is released in to the world and only half of it is absorbed by the sea and streams and every year there would be an excess of 20 billion tons.
Dr. Deenanthe Weerasuriya, dealing with marketing at Sparks Electric Vehicles, said that electric vehicles is the answer to reduce carbon emissions while S.H. Harishchandra, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic, gave the statistics of the number of vehicles registered in Sri Lanka and how the use of electric vehicles is progressing in this country.