Have you ever thought about the degree of pollution caused on campuses, especially from computers and laboratories. Even a single Google search results in the release of energy equivalent to that required for boiling half a litre water, say Krishnadas Nanath and Supriya K K, both research scholars of Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.
The duo have come up with a project, ‘Sustainable University@your Campus (SU@YC)’, which aims to collaborate with leading universities to help make campuses energy-efficient.
“Our project aims to help colleges save maximum energy while implementing projects by drawing a map and offering appropriate methods for implementing them and also save energy within the existing system,” said Krishnadas.
The project will be implemented in two phases -’Green Computer Centre’ and ‘Sustainable University’. ‘Green Computer Centre’ aims to help reduce carbon emissions and help make the computer labs at universities eco-friendly. ‘Sustainable University’ will focus on offering a platform for software solution, strategic plan and consultancy to help develop a sustainable campus. It includes three parts -- Sustainable Infrastructure, Energy Conservation and Sustainable conveyance.
“Our flagship product is a one-platform software solution titled ‘SU@YC-Biz’ which allows organisations to feed in their campus-specific data and obtain results on planning their sustainable initiatives,” says Krishnadas.
SU@YC-Biz includes features like carbon emission forecasting, smart grid planning, space dot mapping and waste management. The software solution is based on research models, public data and research papers, he said.
The project was carried out under the guidance of Prof Radhakrishna Pillai, Dean, Academics, IIM Kozhikode.
‘Sustainable University@your campus’ works on two steps. The first step focuses on achieving zero emission with the help of a benchmark. It estimates the effort and time required to move towards a net zero emission campus.
“Based on planning, brainstorming and execution of sustainable measures on our campus we came up with three wedges - Sustainable infrastructure, Energy conservation and Sustainable conveyance,” says Supriya.
The second step lays out the methods to achieve zero emission and the implementation will be through the three wedges. Sustainable Infrastructure focuses on campus buildings with solutions for space and planning management, improved land use and minimising future constructions.
Energy Conservation focuses on reduction of current and future energy requirements on the campus with the help of academic and research programmes. It requires the setting up of a smart grid.
Sustainable conveyance is all about efficient transportation by helping reduce fuel usage and make the campus greener.
Acer India gave an R7 laptop, that is yet to be released in the market, to Krishnadas and Supriya for their project.
The company had organised a ‘Green Contest’ for students across the globe to create awareness and promote green lifestyle among the public. Among the 1,000-odd contestants, 12 students across the world, including Supriya and Krishnadas from India, reached the final and got an opportunity to go to Taiwan for a presentation.
Krishnadas is also interested in Green IT and Cloud Computing while Supriya has a passion for delving into Information and Communication Technology for Social and Economic development.