It all began with the creation of an island. Mountains in the middle split the island into two halves: one half was covered with rainforest, and one half covered in desert. Why is it so wet on one side and dry on the other?

There is a sign on the island with the name Shivadweepa Eco Village. Signs pointed to desert pods, jungle pods, the reception, a lake, a mountain trail, a port… and at the top of the sign it said “Award winning sustainable resort”.

We learned what sustainable means (protecting the world today so it is good in the future) and decided that the resort must use sustainable energy – wind turbines and solar panels.

There is a special tree on the island. At the foot of the tree is a silver tray with a number of items on it, including fruit, sweets, a bell, incense sticks and a little bowl of water with a spoon. Some of the people who live and work on the island are Hindu, and this is a Puja tray, which they use in their worship. Each item has a significance to help them worship.

We received a message that a new member of part of the team which was working in a different part of the world was feeling left out, so we sent suggestions for how to ensure they were included. They emailed us to say thank you, and that they were now looking forward to working where they were on installing the new Hydrogen Power… hmmmm, what is Hydrogen Power?

We then got a panicked message from the island to say that a number of the pods had no electricity, there was a problem with the solar panels! This was a big problem, the guests would not be happy. The team quickly packed and headed out to investigate.

The office in Redditch needed to make sure the team was properly prepared – the climate on the island is very different to the climate in Redditch! Redditch is in a temperate climate zone, which means it gets warm but not too hot in the summer, and cold but not too cold in the winter. The island, however, is in the Indian Ocean and in a tropical climate zone. This means it stays hot all year (it is closer to the equator) and also has quite a lot of rain.

When the team arrived at the island, they headed out to the solar panels and discovered that they were covered with sand. As soon as the sand was cleared off, more sand blew over them. It was clear this was a problem.

A meeting was called, and a couple of other team members arrived. One of them told us all about Hydrogen Power which could be something of interest…