Green the new buzzword in state colleges

Recently the university has also increased the environment study paper from 50 to 100 marks.

At the prestigious Nina Saxena Excellence in Technology Award of IIT-Kharagpur,the innovations of both awardees enable energy conservation and reduce stress on the environment.

Prof Milind Rane,professor at IIT-Mumbai,has been chosen for the award for a technology that helps conserve energy released by air conditioners.

“Anything that reduces energy intake also helps reduce carbon dioxide output,” said Rane,adding that nearly 90 outlets of McDonald’s in southern and western India are using the technology.

The application has also found takers from chemical units and dairies where significant reduction is noticed in energy usage.

Another innovation is from IIT Delhi,where a group has worked on Smart and Innovative Textile Materials (SMITA) to help impart high value finishes to textiles while addressing the environmental issues.

“It is ecologically and economically better than conventional textile technology,” said Kartick Kumar Samanta,a researcher of the group.

For drying one kg of textile material,60 to 70 litres of water is needed along with high cost of energy. Since plasma treatment does not wet the textile,it does away with water pollution and expenditure on energy.

Indicating the growing green concern among institutions,Joyashree Roy,the head of the global change programme at Jadavpur University,said almost 50 per cent of the seminars organised by colleges in last year were on environment issues.

“The UGC readily agrees to research and seminars on environment,” said Roy.

The JU has also conferred its green award to a Sonarpur-based company,HB Plastic,which has a plastic recycling unit with a pollution control device.