Kolkata, April 21
At a time when Bengal is reeling under a power crisis, IIT-Kharagpur has come up with a full-fledged energy audit. The report, the first of its kind for any IIT, throws light on ways to save power. The suggestions will soon be implemented on the campus.
Forty students of IIT-Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp) started the project at the initiative of AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organization, and Ecozen Solutions, a startup by IIT-Kgp students. “The audit lasted for four months, from January to April, and is the first independent student-run non-credit energy audit initiative in India,” said Shubhanshu Mishra, a third-year mathematics and computing department student and a member of AIESEC. The students were helped in their endeavour by the electrical department faculty.
It was found that IIT-Kgp runs up an annual electricity bill of Rs 11.18 crore and the institute’s gross annual carbon footprint is equivalent to 25,000 tonnes of CO2. There were various aspects to the audit, ranging from electrical to heating, ventilation and air conditioning and fossil fuel consumption.
Several teams, under the technical supervision of senior Ecozen members, worked to assess the status quo by taking regular meter readings, accessing records and talking to on-site personnel. “It was seen that a lot of energy is being wasted in the institution’s kitchens. Energy is wasted when students do not switch off lights, fans or computers. Lights are left on even in the academic building. As responsible global citizens, we should want to change all this,” Mishra said.
The report suggests several infrastructure and behavioural changes to improve the situation. Technical changes were proposed, as were publicity and awareness drives. A competition among halls of residence, assigning consumption targets to departments and launching an aggressive green campaign were suggested. Changes in lighting systems across the institute were examined and the possibility of saving considerable electricity was discovered. Renovation of outdated cooling systems in the old building and building a biogas plant to utilise kitchen waste and save LPG were also suggested.
“The report took a complete view of the energy balance on the campus and identified areas of wastage and outlined proposals for implementation of corrective measures. Possibility of savings by implementation of these plans are twofold: Reduction in CO2 emission and cut-down in energy bills,” said Mishra. The plan to replace HPSV street lights by LED lights alone would lead to around 58 per cent savings in energy.
The authorities are happy with the report and will implement most of the suggestions soon. The dean of students, Souvik Bhattacharya, who helped the energy audit team said, “The students have done an excellent job. With 19 hostels and 7,500 students, completing the energy audit was a huge task. Apart from students of IIT-Kgp, two students from Mexico and Chile were also part of the audit team. Some of the suggestions are reasonably inexpensive and we would try to implement them by the beginning of the next semester.”
Power saving plan of IIT-KGP
- Replacement of HPSV street lights by LED lights
- Modernisation of corridor illumination by replacing tubes with CFLs
- Installing motion sensors in low utilisation areas
- Installing master switches in high utilisation areas
- Building biogas plants to treat food waste from kitchen and use it for cooking
- Installation of solar cooker for boiling water
- Renovation of illumination system of central library by reducing the number of lights, installing motion censors and repositioning lights in some places
- Installation of online energy meters for academic complex and hostels
- Web portal to monitor and display energy consumption in real time
- Aggressive GoGreen campaign via posters, presentations, competitions and workshops
- Assigning targets to departments and hostels to reduce energy consumption through inter- hall and inter-departmental contests
- Using spring-loaded doors instead of sliding doors to reduce extra cooling load on AC
- Installation of underground insulated pipes along with pumps to supply chilled water for air-conditioning
