Student Speak: A waste concern

Updated on: Monday, January 25, 2010

In our country, waste management has become a serious problem owing to the lack of stringency in terms of implementation of policies and laws. The Industrial Revolution has also contributed its part. Waste management hazards not only have serious repercussions on the environment but create numerous problems for human beings as well. With this understanding, coupled with a keen interest for the issues of environmental sciences, I started searching for some interesting programmes in various universities across the world, after completing my graduation in biotechnology from ICFAI University.

When I came across this course in renewable energy, engineering and management at TERI University, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. It is an interdisciplinary course with a batch of 20 students from varied backgrounds ranging from biotechnology, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and environmental engineering.

The objective of this course is to introduce students to non-conventional sources of energy like wind, solar, hydropower, biofuels and waste to balance energy conversion. Apart from these, there is another course on energy economics and energy modelling, which would enable us —the future engineers — to formulate or validate the economics of a renewable energy-based power plant.

I plan to do my major in waste utilisation and biofuels. Since India is mainly an agrarian economy, there is a huge potential and scope for research in this area. This course equips one to seek employment in solar energy (with the 96,000 crore solar mission recently launched in India, prospects in this field look promising), wind energy (companies like Suzlon are expanding on a largescale) and bioenergy (a large number of consultancy companies are mushrooming in India to support the ongoing projects in different parts of the world, especially the US and the South-East Asia) sectors. One can even explore the possibility of becoming an energy auditor.

Timesofindia

Student Speak: A waste concern

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