Riding the green wave

Updated on: Monday, March 28, 2011

Green campuses today are not mere visual treats. They are serious business. With a new breed of environment-conscious youngsters making choices, colleges and universities across the country are changing with the times.

Faculty members are trying to be in-sync with a world that wants to breathe easy. Take for instance the NIIT University campus in Neemrana. As you find your way to the entrance gate towering above, you can spot a tiny speck gradually moving towards you — Air Cmde (retd) Kamal Singh, advisor, infrastructure services, NIIT.

As he gets off the cycle to catch his breath, one notices that the 100-acre campus sits in the lap of the Aravalli range. A 'walking' campus, most facilities here are located within a fiveminute walking distance. Cycles are parked all around allowing students to pedal off to their respective classes and camels are used to ferry enthusiastic students, instead of roaring vehicles.

Singh further explains how earth air tunnels are being used in the university, "Each building on campus has two to four earth air tunnels, which are 100 metres long and four metres deep. Since the temperature at this level is constant, the air released through the tunnel gains temperature in the winters and loses temperature in the summers. This is the air that is distributed on campus."

According to Bhavik R Bakshi, it is a matter of practising what you preach. The vice-chancellor and professor of energy and environment, TERI University, New Delhi, feels that students nowadays want to be part of an academic milieu, which is environment-conscious.

Located in south Delhi, the TERI University has several features of passive solar design, energy-efficiency and water and waste management systems. Bakshi informs that the university's cooling systems are integrated to achieve energy-efficiency. While the new universities are taking an interest in building their 'green' image as seriously as their academic credibility, the older institutes are resorting to a range of innovations.

Rajendra Prasad, professor of life sciences, IIT-Delhi , points out, "Developing and maintaining the approximately 1,000-acre green belt has always been a challenge. It falls in the vicinity of the Aravalli range, which chronologically is three times older than the Himalayas. Consequently, there are problems when it comes to accessing the ground water. We have constructed a number of check-dams in recent years. This has substantially raised the water table."

A FRESH WHIFF
Baba Ghulam Shah University (BGSBU) in Rajouri, J&K , has taken a lead in becoming a role model for the border pockets. The campus, located at the foothills of the Himalayan Pir Panjal range, is maintaining the Pir Panjal Biodiversity Park spread on an area of 5.200 Kanals. Just a decade ago, the entire land was barren, says Ravinder Goel, director, centre for bio-diversity , BGSBU.

While Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is involved in a large-scale afforestation project, a Punjabi University Environment Society has been formed under the patronage of the vice-chancellor , Jaspal Singh, to make the campus 'polythene and smoke-free .'

Meanwhile, Manipal University, Karnataka, has been broadly divided into water management, waste management, lung spaces and energy management. Col Badri Narayanan, director, general services, explains, "We require 42 lakh litres of water every day. The government supply ensures 9-10 lakh litres of water, while we get 14 lakh litres from our 21 borewells." The rest comes through recycling, he says.

MIT College, Pune, is trying to instill environmental awareness among its students. LK Kshirsagar, principal, says "We organise many environment related events like plantation drives and cycle rallies. Our students also participate in the Mulla River cleaning drive. In another initiative, the college has decided to give PUC certificates to students for their vehicles at minimal rates."

Beary's Institute of Technology, Mangalore, Karnataka, has been designed on the basis of the 'green concept.' Says Syed Mohamed Beary, chairman, Indian Green Buildings Council (IGBC), Karnataka Chapter, "We do not use artificial lights during the day."

Besides, the institute has used locally available materials like laterite stone for its buildings. Parts of the campus were quarries and the excavated parts have been used to implement water recharge systems.

On the other hand, the buildings of the Great Lakes Institute of Management, located in Manamai near Mamallapuram, are designed in such a way that the wind corridors can let the breeze inside. Says S Sriram, executive director, Great Lakes, "Also, the water treatment plant, built across the college and hostels, recycles the used water thereby reducing any kind of wastage."

Times of India

Riding the green wave

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