Collegians present their green energy models at international meet

Updated on: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Two student researchers, one from Pune and another from Delhi, presented their green energy models before an international audience in Germany recently.

Around 45 students, activists, researchers and journalists from 18 developing countries attended a six-day conference of young environmental envoys held at Leverkusen near Cologne. The event was organised by Bayer Group in coordination with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Mayur Rastogi, a third-year student of chemical engineering at IIT-Kharagpur, was chosen for his model of a cheap, smokeless cooking stove. Rastogi’s stove will help cut down fuel consumption costs and maintain a smoke-free and healthy environment in rural kitchens.

The youngster plans to take his project to poor families in rural and urban areas by tying up with social organisations. “The project has the potential to have a very profound social and environmental impact. It will directly affect the lives of rural masses and utilise waste biomass for energy production, thus preventing deforestation,” he said.

A model designed by Tanvi Gadgil, a 22-year-old student currently pursuing her Masters in Renewable Energy at Loughborough University, UK, explores the possibility of using wheat or rice straw as low-cost fuel for producing biogas-based energy and a bio-fertilizer as the byproduct in India.

“The added advantage is the formation of bio-fertilizer as a useful by-product, which can be added to the soil to produce more food. The result is the formation of a sustainable closed-loop food-fuel-fertilizer cycle. The project also shows a possible solution to the food versus fuel debate regarding the usage of biomass for renewable energy,” said Gadgil. She says that the opportunity to present her work will help in translating technical knowledge into practical applications to address various environmental issues in India.

Collegians present their green energy models at international meet

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