NPR

A 15-year-old girl invented a solar ironing cart that's winning global respect

Vinisha Umashankar came up with the idea of solar power instead of charcoal to heat street irons. "Iron-Max" was a finalist for Prince William's Earthshot Prize, and this week, she spoke at COP26.
Vinisha Umashankar and her solar ironing cart. She came up with the idea when she was 12 — then worked with engineers to create a prototype. Now she's in Glasgow, Scotland, to speak at the COP26 climate change conference.

Vinisha Umashankar was returning to her home in southern India from school a few years ago when she saw a man throwing away burnt charcoal on the side of the street.

He was an ironing vendor who pressed people's clothes for a living – and his main appliance was an old-fashioned iron box, which he filled with hot charcoal that emitted a cloud of smoke. Umashankar counted at least six such vendors in her neighborhood in the temple town of

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