Green Bangalore! Cries the hoarding where once a giant tree stood for centuries! We are a nation that believes in speaking more and doing less! For the “doers” among us, the attitude of our “speakers” may be awful! Is there a way out? Yeah! Charity begins @ home! We can first “practice” eco-friendly practices at our homes, outside our homes and wherever possible; the results will “reach” people faster than the time we take to “preach”! How? Adopt the eco-friendly options, which are economical and environmentally safe, available in the market and make a bold statement: I care for the environment! Do you? Here are some of the options that we can adopt in our day-to-day life to conserve resources at our disposal:
1. This will leave you… aGhASt!
For those who cook at home (!) and have some space to spare, there is a viable alternative to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders (which are becoming costly by the day). Scalene Greenergy Corporation, a Bengaluru-based company founded by Dr Raja Vijay Kumar, offers a solution. It has designed and developed a 5-feet long, 2-feet wide and 3-feet height biogas machine (capacity 3–9 kg) that generates organic natural gas using kitchen and other organic wastes (like vegetable peel), even newspapers. Consider the benefit: only 3 kg of waste is required for generating 14 kg of gas equivalent to one cylinder! The machine can be placed either in the kitchen or in the balcony of a flat, and gas can be brought to the kitchen through a pipe. With subsidy expected to be provided, the machine will be priced at Rs 10,000. While this micro-plant caters to domestic consumption, the mini-plant is aimed at large‑scale operations such as hotels, hostels, apartment complexes, and industrial houses, and for industrial purposes like power generation, refrigeration, pumps, and automotive use. This is also suitable for Cafeterias in all the offices and business establishments! What more? The by-products can be used as an organic manure too. There may be other manufacturers, for which there is always Google!
2. Chithi Na Koi Sandesh! Mitti Na Koi Freshness!
Don’t think it’s “cool” to buy the biggest refrigerator (even if it is star rated) in the market and store all the vegetables and fruits, food cooked yesterday, the day before yesterday et al. in it! Beware it consumes a lot of power; moreover the vegetables, fruits and the cooked food will lose their freshness and the nutrients, if stored for a long time! Why on earth buy in such large quantity which is not going to help us in our nutrient needs? Instead, why not prepare in sufficient quantities that last for a day and no more? Try buying vegetables and fruits in small quantities. There is another option in hand! Bring home a Mitticool refrigerator, which is made of special terracotta clay and works without electricity! Developed by Wakaner (Gujarat)-based potter Mansukhbhai Prajapati, the refrigerator measuring 27 inches high and 15 inches wide has a tank for cooling and storing 10 litres of water, and has two compartments for storing 5 kg of vegetables, fruits and other food. The natural cooling process keeps vegetables and fruits fresh for up to 5 days, and milk products for up to 3 days (of course it is better to consume at the earliest). Like any clay pot used to cool water, the refrigerator too works by keeping the inside temperature 10°C lower than the outside. It is priced at around Rs 8000. He also sells tawa (price Rs 150–300), water filter and clay pressure cooker (price Rs 500-700). Interestingly, each of the products is decorated with handmade designs, and the tawas come with approved food-grade coating. These can be bought through eBay, Craftvilla, Nethaat.com etc.
3. e-Ignite your mind (and bike too)!
Instead of using petrol-guzzling bikes and lamenting that the price of petrol has skyrocketed, why not buy e-bikes that are cheaper, lighter, and ecofriendly. Plug it, charge it, drive it! Some of the disadvantages of ebikes: suitable for short distance travel (100 km), speed is less (for those who vroom and zoom), lithium ion batteries are costlier than other batteries. There are plenty of options available in the market. Buy the one that is suitable to your requirement and budget! If you still want to use a petrol bike, drive and ride at a speed between 30 and 50 kmph and stop the engine at signals till it turns green! I am not responsible if other motorists yell at you for not igniting your engines even after the signals turn green!
4. Tip Tip Tap..ka Paani!
The next measure of conservation is about water. The water flow rate in the taps that we use normally in houses, offices, and industries across India is 15 litres/min. By fixing the water-saving aerator kit in every tap, the waterflow can be reduced to 6 litres/min ̶ a whopping saving of 60% water! This not only reduces water consumption but also reduces energy consumption, as the energy required to pump the water to the storage tank will also be consequently reduced. The aerator uses a limescale-reducing material to prevent scaling. The installed capsule can be removed and inserted in designer tap ends. This conservation of water and energy is not only good for the environment, but the savings in utility bills will pay for the cost of the aerators within a few months. NEO SYSTEK, a Bangalore-based company is producing these aerators. Of course, there may be other companies that may develop these kinds of aerators; that’s for you to check. Considering the fact that water is getting scarce day by day, the aerator may be one of the several options available for us to conserve this precious resource.
5. Give me some sunshine!
In a nation where there is plenty of sunshine throughout the year, the use of solar power for our day‑to-day activities is abysmally low. Install solar water heaters at your homes and get abundant hot water throughout the year with minimal maintenance cost. There is a bonus too: BESCOM provides a rebate of 50 paise per unit of electricity consumed subject to a maximum of 50 per installation per month, if solar water heaters are installed and used. Where Bulk Solar Water Heater System is installed, Solar Water Heater rebate shall be allowed to each of the individual installations, provided that, the capacity of Solar Water Heater in such apartment/group housing shall be a minimum capacity of 100 litres per household. In addition, we can use solar lights of different sizes suitable to our homes, which will prove to be useful during the onslaught of “announced” and “unannounced” power cuts (this is especially designed for our Chennai friends who are “power”less for a major part of the day and year!). For those with plenty of disposable income (read as take home salary!), there are solar “power”ed inverters of different capacities available in the market. Those who live in apartments can persuade their resident associations to install one with a bigger capacity. There are also hybrid systems (wind and solar) that can be installed on our rooftops just like solar panels. The advantage: when the weather is cloudy, wind energy will power our homes!
These are some of the measures that we can adopt in our day-to-day life to conserve resources at our disposal. Finally, if we cannot plant a tree, at least we can lessen our carbon footprint by adopting environmentally sustainable practices.
NB: I don’t “encourage” anyone to ask me whether I have adopted all these measures!