Classroom electricity meters

Long time back when I used to conduct trainings on environmental audits... a very introvert teacher from Ludhiana asked me a question, while I was explaining energy audits. He said "Sir...Can't we put sub meters in everyclass?". It took me a while to understand his question and so did the other participants. But when we all got it...we all stood up and clapped for the gentleman...how had kept the entire day in the training.

What he meant was why not put a small sub meter in every classroom and monitor its energy consumption. He promptly added later that a sub meter costs Rs 150 in Ludhiana.

Generations of school principals have given long speeches in the morning assembly asking studetns to switch off lights etc...but no one seems to care or bother.

Figure this out... what if we put a sub-meter outside every class...lets say 6th A and 6th B. At the begining of everymonth...take the meter to zero and tell all the students that at the end of the month...we will see who consumes more electricity. I bet this will certainly lead to getting those lights and fans swithched off promptly.

Well...thats my dream at the moment. To have a school, in which every classroom has an electricity meter.

Imagine the precision of a electric energy audit at this place and if the data is fed in a system...one would be able to know...which areas are consuming more energy.

And believe me a sub meter actually costs that low... I have personally done a survey in Lajpat Rai market(Chandni Chowk) about the same. The best one would be around Rs 600.

Try it...I am sure it will work.

Waste Auditing and Zero Waste schools

I have heard a lot of schools bragging about being zero-waste. But if you ask them...how did they come to a figure zero...they have no answers. After all in an equation, one needs to prove how everything = 0.
The truth is that most of the schools brag about their waste management systems of composting and waste segregation without having an idea about the exact amount of waste which is generated in the school.

Finding the exact amount of waste generated on a daily basis is actually called a waste audit.
There's a small film I have made on doing a waste audit. Do watch it on youtube at the following link. This is the first ever video documentation of a waste audit in India and perhaps South Asia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyICoDPPt58

Apart from it being an enviornmental activity...it has immense educational value of teaching scientific data collection as also social sensitivity towards fellow human beings, who help us keep our cities clean.

The Kabadiwala Project

Students of Millennium School, Noida have started a very innovative project called the kabadiwala project. In this project students of Class 6 interviewed a kabadiwala at home and found out how he operates - What materials does he take- metals, plastic etc. and at what rate?









They came back to the classroom and shared the experience of interviewing a kabaadiwala and hte invormation they collected.









The entire class then moved out of the school and went to a head kabadiwala's shop, where all the collected material is dumped. The head was also interviewed and the students found out the recycling trail of all the waste materials in the country. Where does paper go for recycling, where does metal go and so on.









Later, the students invited a local kabadiwala as chief guest for a school event and presented him the report - an acknowledgement of the fact that kabadiwalas are the greatest environmentalists around.

A movie has also been made on the project. Do watch it on you tube at the following link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPIj1bM8vmk

Education for Sustainable Development - Indian scenario

A lot has happened on the different strands and components of ESD despite the fact that there is still no holistic work happening on ESD at the moment.

All the work happening in the name of ESD seems to be focused in the field of environment education. Although environment forms an important component of ESD but equally important are the social components i.e gender, diversity issues, human rights, peace, conflict resolution and others.

While there are many organizations working on social components- I am yet to come across any initiative which has a comprehensive work on both the environmental and social components of ESD. Either its environmental or social- disparate.

I would out here share a few cases I have come across of disparate nevertheless efficient efforts towards ESD.

Environment:

1. The Centre for Environment Education (CEE), as the name suggests has done pioneering work in the field of environment education. Their work ranges from creating primers on environment for both teachers and students. Some of the best primers in the field have been generated by CEE. Training programmes on environment for teachers and students - http://www.ceeindia.org/
They also have an interesting website http://www.kidsrgreen.org/krg.html - the ICT component.

2. Centre for Science and Environment(CSE)- CSE has also done innovative work in the field of ESD through its environmental initiatives. The monthly magazine Gobar Times has been at the forefront of information on environmental sustainability for beginners.

Visit- http://www.gobartimes.org/

The Green Schools Programme on environmental auditing is first of its kind in the region. In this programme, the children of a school do a survey in the school on how resources like water, air and energy etc are being used inside the school. They thus prepare a report card of the school. The manual, which helps the children do the audit, is a good resource book for children and teachers who want to learn about environment. As I have been personally involved in the project since its inception, we have seen the change in teachers and students, when they come to know the reality about their school in terms of environmental practices. Its amazing to see rural schools score over urban schools in terms of sustainability. More on:

http://www.cseindia.org/programme/eeu/html/index.asp

The activity sheets on the CSE website also speak about contextual environmental issues:

http://www.cseindia.org/programme/eeu/html/activ_archive.asp

3. The Energy and Resources Institute(TERI): There work in the environmental field is also good especially their web component:
http://www.edugreen.teri.res.in/index.asp

There are many more organizations working on the environmental component but these are the first ones, which come to my mind. The Ecology and Natural Resource Education (ENRE) project of Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) is another project which has been successful in the rural areas as opposed to the three mentioned above, which have a footage mostly in urban areas.

The Social component:

Pravah: One of the best institutions in the country working on life skills based education (LSBE). They have developed a full-fledged training programme for children on conflict resolution. The programme is delivered through workshop sessions, which are interactive and activity based. The content includes sessions on non-violence, gender, understanding values, identity, sustainable development, stroking, communication and lots of other relevant issues.
As I have been involved in this project also, I have seen there is a significant change in the attitude of students. In fact a lot of these workshops have materialized into initiatives of students to take on some issues head on in the community.
Similar workshops are also done at the college level and a lot of the workshops have now materialized into formal organizations working on social as well as environmental issues.
Although their work has been largely on the social components but they also some sessions dedicated to resource use and sustainable development.

The main activities include- teacher trainings, sensitization tours, network meetings, clubs etc.

More information on:

http://www.younginfluencers.com/ and www.pravah.org

There are many other organizations working on social components but there efforts are disparate within the social component. They focus only on a single issue i.e either gender or non-iolence or other issues- but no composite work. I may mention here the efforts of various organization working on the principles of democracy have started bal panchayats – SWRC Tiloniya etc.


Miscellaneous components:

Health: There is another strand of ESD, which has flourished, very well- that is health. A lot of organizations have put it under the head of Life skills (which is true to some extent) or sex education.

The Yuva – Adolescent Education Program of the Department of Education, Delhi Government is quite a significant work in as far as the health perspective is concerned. It also has some important sections on the social component as well. The last time I interacted with them, they were desperate to put the environmental perspective in their books. If that has happened- it would have added strength to the programme.

There are many such health based programmes.

ICT : which has been much talked about in the solution exchange forum also is an important part of ESD and would certainly help achieve the gospel ‘ Think Global, act local’- as global information in a village can be achieved only through ICT.


I may mention here once again, that I am still not aware of any programme or practice in the country which has a composite effort taking into consideration the linkages between environmental, social and other components like health, ICT.

But definitely as the idea of ESD gains ground and the funding agencies stress on it- we would find more and more programmes on ESD.

This brings me to another crucial point - As the funding is disparate- on environment, on social development or on ICT- developing a composite programme becomes problematic for non-profit organization working with communities.

Another, unexplored section is that ESD is primarily thought of at the school level, however it is equally important for youth- and not to leave out adults.

Nursery Admissions in Delhi

The Ganguly Committee Report has environmental, economic and social ramifications

There has been a huge uproar against the B.K.Ganguly Committee Report on school nursery admissions in Delhi. The committee was formed on the recommendation of the Delhi High Court on a petition against interviews of parents at the time of nusery admissions. The private school fraternity and many parents are not happy about it. But there is atleast one important point in the Report about which environmentalists should feel happy.

The section, which talks about giving maximum weightage to children staying nearest to the school- ‘the neighbourhood criteria’. Initially, there was maximum weightage for those staying within the 3 km radius and after protests the radius has been increased. Nevertheless, it makes a lot of sense, environmentally.

Its not difficult to find a school (private school) in a city, which does not have a school bus or doesn’t find jams outside it, when it begins or calls it a day. The reason - most of the students commuting to school use either the school bus/van etc or their private vehicles. With the ‘blue line fiasco’, failure of public tranport and increasing affluency among people, the number of parents or drivers dropping kids to school has increased in the top end schools (Are these the ones who are making noise?) The result is an increase in the number of traffic jams outside schools.

As transport planners have been saying, more number of people need to use mass transport. Because a bus carries more passengers than a car and occupies less space - hence there would be less traffic congestion if all people use public transport. Not a bad advise at all! It applies in the school scenario as well. More children need to use public or school bus rather than create jams outside by using their own cars.

But its not merely a traffic problem. A research by Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune, tells us that a car consumes nearly six times more energy per passenger per km than an average bus. Hence, it is not even recommended from the fuel economy point of view.

Importantly, the more the fuel consumption the more the emissions from a vehicle. So, the more number of people travel to school by fossil fuel based transport, the more their emissions and hence their contribution to global warming. As countries around the world are gearing up to fight global warming by reducing emissions, using personal cars at such a scale is certainly not recommended. The environmental bottomline would hence be to use mass transport and avoid traffic congestion and reduce emissions.

So, is that the final answer. Perhaps not! The most sustainable situation would be one in which the dependency on vehicular transport is done away with – People walk or cycle to school. No traffic congestion or emissions. Good! But how would someone from Gurgaon walk or cycle to Delhi?

And here comes the relevance of the Ganguly report. In present day, children travel enormous distances to reach their school and getting back. Not only does the fuel spent impact the environment through emissions, traffic jams, there are many unaccounted limitations. The time taken to travel eats on a child’s time to play. The child just reaches back home and starts doing his/her homework. Its stressful and has a negative impact on the child in general.

If only children staying close to the school are given admission by schools, perhaps most children would walk/cycle to school and there would be no need for those vehicles. The children would also have enough time to play. Even the Delhi Transportation Corporation buses used to ferry children can be used by those who need them more. Thus the ‘neighbourhood criteria’ of admission to school makes a lot of sense.

There have been arguments flying around as to “what will I do if there is no good school in my neighbourhood? I want good education for my kids.” There is only one answer to them. A school is made by its students. So, if good students (your children) study in the neighbourhood school, the school would automatically become good. And who knows good schools might spring up in all parts of the city.

Its hard to swallow that argument. But it would be interesting to draw inspiration from the process of implementation of CNG for public transport in India. Just think of the time when CNG was implemented in Delhi. The court gave a date by which CNG should be implemented. The government didn’t comply. How is it possible to convert to CNG it said?- there are no CNG stations in the city, private operators cannot convert etc etc. There were no buses for a few days and long queues of autos and buses outside the few CNG stations. People suffered for a few days. Perhaps months. There was tremendous chaos in Delhi.

But then the government had to act. CNG stations soon came up in all parts of the city and buses converted to CNG. There was peace, and life became normal as Delhi entered the world map as a city, which runs on clean fuel. We touched Euro 4 standards in terms of emissions. We leapfrogged and are now much much ahead of many western cities in terms of vehicular transport emissions. It was a bitter pill, which made Delhi’s air clean.

Ganguly Committee’s recommendation on neighbourhood is also a bitter pill. So, there may be some problem for sometime if this point of the report is accepted. But this pill will surely cure the city of unwanted traffic and emissions, and prevent a disaster. It will put us on a platform on which other cities might reach after years. It would be a leapfrog much ahead of many top cities in the world.

In fact, if this model is implemented in all the metros and urban centers of India- we would be saving tonnes of fossil fuels (and money) and a huge amount of unnecessary emissions. Moreover, it would have a good impact on the quality of life of children, who had earlier been traveling 2-3 hours each day to reach school.

Surely, of all the recommendations of Ganguly Committee, at least ‘the neighbourhood’ factor should certainly be implemented as it has far reaching environmental, economical and social ramifications.

Cities can never be sustainable

Cities are moving towards increasing populations and development of infrastructures. Intellectuals are talking about better ways of making cities sustainable by mass transport systems to stop cars, by disincentivising cars, by making water recycling and harvesting mandatory. Institutions boast of their liquid and solid waste methodologies. But no matter what is said and done- the crux is that one can never make a city completely or even distinctively clean, non-polluting- sustainability is out of question. So, many people huddled together can never be sustainable and neither can be an urban sprawl. Cities are and would remain un sustainable. With increasing trends in urbanization and as the recent UN report puts that the urban population of the world set to increase. Everybody is missing the point and even the best of environmentalists or social thinkers cannot think of leaving the city. It high time we understand that cities are against nature and will always be. I am seriously thinking of shifting to a village and thinking of starting a campaign – chalo gaon ki ore

Boost is the secret of my energy

This primer does not intend to increase your knowledge about the importance of energy in human life or the different forms of energy- We have already read a lot about it in our text books and have got bored writing examinations on the same. Neither is this primer intended to inform you on how to conserve energy – Generations of teachers and Principals have told us – Students! Put off the lights. Save Electricity! Electricity saved is electricity generated. But then, who cares! I am not sure many of us listened to all of those. And as long as we have energy use it. We’ll see when the fuel finishes. But its important we think about it – think about energy conservation because just saving energy wont take us anywhere. Saving energy is the first step to energy conservation. - Swithching off unwanted electrical gadgets is a good idea- they are not serving anyone - Swithching off the car engine at red light is a good idea- it saves lot of fuel. But is that enough. Perhaps not. May be we can invest in gadgets, which use and consume less energy. Great idea! Technology is the second step to energy conservation - Swithching to Compact Flourescent lamps from bulbs is a great idea- CFL’s consume 40% less electricity than normal bulbs. - Swithching to cars which are more fuel efficient is a great idea – More mileage means fuel saved and money too. So, is that it about energy conservation. Oh yes! Technology would also involve coming with more renewable energy alternatives, solar photovoltaic cells, wind power etc. But that isn’t the place where the buck stops. The third and final and the most important step of energy conservation is to stop consuming energy- the sustainable step. Yes! Although humans cannot stop consuming energy but they certainly can create situations where you don’t have to consume energy/or may be minimize it. - Start pulling up your curtains let light come in. When we have the sun, we don’t need to consume electricity during mornings. Lets construct and create houses, where there is enough natural light not to swithch on anything in the mornings. - Start staying close to your place of work or your school- then you can walk or cycle to your destination. Its hard to do that because different family members have different needs – but it isn’t impossible. All this will kill consumption and is perhaps the most sustainable thing to do. It is this step, we need to think, concentrate and research upon. We need to build cities and settlements in such a manner that there is no or minimal requirement of energy. Perhaps also create systems, which do not use energy. So, does the discussion on energy end here with sustainable solutions. Certainly not! Human cannot live without energy- we would require it for one reason or the other. Hence, we would no doubt have to go back to the technology step where we find newer forms of renewable energy. And as energy experts say, the key is in diversification, we must invest in all sorts of renewable energy sources –solar, wind, geothermal etc to have a energy secure future. The linkage of consumption of energy to two important happenings is very crucial for human existence – pollution and global warming Pollution A lot of the air pollution in our present day world can be attributed to the usage of fuels and energy. We know how the usage of ‘dirty diesel’ in Delhi was making its air a ‘killer’. It was only after CNG was introduced as an alternative for public transport that things started going in the right direction. It is the choice of cleaner fuels that can make a great impact on pollution issues around Global Warming As, energy consumption in the present world is directly linked to global warming, it surely is a matter or perusal. Whatever, stock of fossil carbon producing fuels we have at the moment, if we spend it fast the globe is going to grow warmer as much. Hence, it is only the judicious use and conservation of energy according to the three steps is going to help us.