Coal accounts for almost 70% of India’s electricity generation. Where most of the coal is mined in the country, a fair deal is imported too. But over the last year, there has been a drastic decrease in imports due to economic issues.
Even as countries across the world grapple with the weight of the situation, a school in Eldorado, USA, has shown the way forward. The Eldorado Community Unit School District has undergone a large-scale solar transformation with help from Calibrant Energy. Eldorado Elementary School is now 45% solar-powered and Eldorado Middle School is 89% solar-powered. This school serves as a great example of how institutions can make a few changes to make the planet healthier.
Closer to home, by 2016, the Sri Aurobindo International Centre for Education in Puducherry became the first fully solar-powered educational institute in India. Another school that is fully powered by solar energy is the Canadian International School in Bengaluru. This school requires 4,25,000 kilowatts (KW) energy every year, but produces close to 5,00,000 KW per year. The extra energy is pumped back into the grid so that it can be used by other consumers.
The Sunshine School in Kakdwip, West Bengal, powers its computers, kitchens, science laboratories and equipment used in vocational classes using solar energy. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, the St Xavier’s High School in Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra, installed a solar power plant. Now the school sells all its excess electricity generated back to the public grid.
If solar energy is the way forward, and the best way to conserve fossil fuels, why aren’t more schools and other institutions taking it up? Upload your thoughts to the ‘Letters to Editor’ section of www.robinage.com/write-to-us.htm
