By Robert Haugh

17-year-old Amrutha Rao has been dedicated to developing environmental technology innovations for several years. 

The lifelong Santa Claran states that growing up and living in Santa Clara was crucial. 

“Being immersed in Silicon Valley, a world of startups and cutting-edge technologies, I’ve seen firsthand how innovation can be leveraged for social good. This environment has magnified my passion for developing technologies that are socially responsible and impactful.”

One of her projects is GreenSwing, which she co-founded. GreenSwing is a patent-pending invention that generates electricity from door swings. GreenSwing has won multiple international awards, including the Power Pitch Award at the Conrad Challenge at NASA Space Center in Houston. 

GreenSwing has been recognized by global sustainability organizations and raised funding. Rao’s team recently completed shipping GreenSwing units to a health clinic in rural Malawi to help power their medical equipment.

Another of Rao’s projects is EnviroScore, a mobile app that gamifies and incentivizes the fight against climate change, harnessing students’ inherent competitive spirit to drive climate action. 

EnviroScore allows students to gain points and ascend leaderboards upon completing environmentally friendly actions.

EnviroScore was recognized by Congresswoman Jackie Spier and won second place in the Congressional App Challenge; it also won two prizes in an international hackathon.

Rao attended Laurelwood Elementary.

Rao cites Steve Jobs as an inspiration “for his out-of-the-box thinking, vision, and creation of easy-to-use devices that can be disseminated to the masses.”

Additional inspirations are Marie Curie for “her groundbreaking work in radioactivity and for greatly impacting two different scientific fields.”

She also credits her teachers. 

“I’ve been fortunate to have amazing I-lab teachers at my school who have helped me learn how to use I-lab tools effectively and have given me access to the lab to explore and create solutions.”

Rao plans to continue her work when she starts at Columbia University in New York next year. 

“I aspire to utilize my love of mathematics and science to innovate solutions to tackle challenges such as climate change, making the world a better place.”

Rao hopes “to expand my knowledge and conduct research in physics and engineering. I am excited to work on new projects, for example in the field of AI, and I may also continue and improve my current projects,” at Columbia University’s engineering school.

For more information visit: https://healtheplanet.com/all-young-planet-leaders/amrutha-rao and https://greenswingenergy.com/