Sustainability

Scientists at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, are working on a new type of high, efficient air conditioner that has already demonstrated a capacity to cut electricity consumption by about one third.

It is known that rapidly increasing heat stress leads to various health risks and lowers productivity, and these effects have already reached alarming levels. According to the India Cooling Action Plan, Report by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, 2019, with the increase in temperature and the consequent rise in air conditioning usage in homes and offices, electricity consumption for cooling will be three times more by 2037, 38.

The researchers are also in the process of developing a different type of energy, saving air conditioners to solve the problem.

The group of researchers led by Prof Anurag Goyal and including Ananthakrishnan K, a doctoral research student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is currently developing a laboratory- scale prototype of this new system, which has already demonstrated a capacity to reduce electricity consumption by approximately one third.

The vapor-compression system-based ACs in use today remove humidity by overcooling the air until moisture condenses, which is a highly energy-intensive process. Prof Anurag Goyal's research group has developed a new concept that utilizes a compact add-on module to directly tackle moisture.

The module uses a salt solution (liquid desiccant) that absorbs water vapor from incoming outdoor air. A thin and selective polymer membrane sits between the air and the salt solution and prevents the salt from carrying over into the building's air, which is a common concern with existing liquid-desiccant systems.

After the solution is diluted by absorbed moisture, it must be dried to allow continuous reuse. The team uses an innovative system integration concept to continuously revive and recirculate the same salt solution. Instead of adding a burner or an electric heater, the design uses heat that the AC already throws away through its condenser (the outdoor unit) and redirects it to a regenerator module to dry the salt solution again.

The system is designed to precisely match the energy transfer rate in the two parts, vapor compression and desiccant modules, across various outdoor cor the hybrid, resulting in around 33 per cent lower energy consumption, while meeting the same indoor comfort targets. Across representative Indian climates, the predicted savings range from 28 per cent (in very humid areas) to 41.5 per cent (in dry and arid areas)," Prof Anurag Goyal said.

The research team anticipates wider adoption of such a sustainable cooling technology, particularly in Indian buildings.

A study titled 'Model-based analysis of a novel hybrid membrane-liquid desiccant air conditioner for high-efficiency space cooling' on their work has been published in the Journal of Building Engineering.

The National Institute of Technology- Rourkela has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) for structured capacity building, technical upskilling and managerial development of professionals.

The collaboration will support joint research, innovation, digitisation and operational optimisation initiatives. The MoU was signed on Thursday by NIT-R director K Umamaheshwar Rao and OMC Director (HR) Alok Kumar Pal. It coincided with the inauguration of a three-day continuous professional development (CPD) programme for OMC professional on mineral resource management:

Technical, regulatory and strategic insights. Organised jointly by the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the NIT, R's Mining Engineering department, the CPD programme was a kind of legitimate and technical training that combined mine research management's technical, regulatory and strategic aspects.

Dean (Alumni, Industry and International Relations) HB Sahu, who was coordinating the collaboration, said that the aim of the partnership is to strengthen the technical expertise and managerial capabilities of OMC professionals so that they can be able to meet the evolving demands of the mining sector.

He said that it will help promote cooperative research and innovation, knowledge, sharing on cutting edge mining technologies, sustainable and safe practices, environmental management, regulatory compliance, and the use of new digital tools to enhance overall business performance.

Pal said, “OMC plays a vital role in extracting key minerals such as iron ore, bauxite, chrome and ferrochrome, which support India’s core mineral-based industries. We are steadily transitioning from traditional mining practices to more mechanised and technology-driven operations to achieve our sustainable mining goals.

Through this knowledge partnership with NIT-R, we aim to build a high-performing and future-ready workforce, while jointly contributing to the industrial and economic development of Odisha.” Rao highlighted the state’s rich mineral base and said,

“Our region is blessed with iron ore, bauxite, coal, manganese, chromite, graphite, dolomite, rare earths and several other valuable minerals. Despite being resource-rich and contributing significantly to metal production, western Odisha region has not developed at the same pace. It is our responsibility to channelise these resources wisely for regional growth and ensure sustainable and value-added utilisation, including effective use of waste ore,” he added.

Assam Bio Ethanol Pvt Ltd (ABEPL) is planning to collaborate with over 30, 000 farmers within the next 3 years for sourcing bamboo for the world's only second generation bioethanol plant, a top company official told reporters.

The Rs 4, 930, crore plant having a production capacity of 49, 000 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year and the plant is currently stabilizing with limited raw materials.

"At the moment, we are going through the start, up phase. Within around next week, we should be able to stabilise the plant. Thereafter, we will go for full-scale production," ABEPL Chief Executive Officer Rupjyoti Hazarika told PTI in an interview.

Located at Numaligarh in Assam's Golaghat district, the unit is the only commercial second-generation bioethanol plant in the world using bamboo as the raw material. All other first-generation ethanol plants use food crops such as sugarcane or maize as biomass.

Besides ethanol, the plant will also annually produce 19,000 tonnes of furfural, 11,000 tonnes of acetic acid, 32,000 tonnes of liquid CO2 and 25 MW of green power.

"During the trial run, we produced fuel-grade ethanol with 99.7 per cent purity. The normal range is to have a 99.5 per cent purity level," he said.

To fully achieve the installed ethanol output, the 43-acre plant will require five lakh MTPA of green bamboo as raw material.

The CEO said that to achieve its targeted raw material sourcing, 12,500 hectares of bamboo plantation will be required, using 60 lakh saplings over the next three years.

"We have so far registered over 4,200 farmers for sourcing bamboo. We are targeting more than 30,000 farmers across a 300-km radius sourcing zone over the next three years," he added.

He said that the company has so far transferred Rs 2.4 crore to farmers' accounts for sourcing bamboo without involving any middleman.

"We have set a target to source bamboo from a 300-km radius of the plant. We will take green bamboo from 16 districts in Assam, four in Arunachal Pradesh, five in Nagaland and one in Meghalaya," Hazarika said.

Presently, bamboo cultivation is taking place on 300 hectares of land with the already registered farmers, he added.

"We have freely distributed one lakh saplings, the majority of which are for institutional players like tea gardens," Hazarika said.

With the government allowing five per cent of tea garden land for non-tea purposes, many owners have expressed willingness to use their land for bamboo cultivation, he added.

"We are identifying non-crop land and not encouraging farmers to convert agricultural land for bamboo cultivation. We are looking for barren and unused land for bamboo cultivation," he said.

Hazarika also said that when the company sources bamboo from 12,500 hectares of land, ABEPL will become a carbon neutral entity.

For producing ethanol, bamboo is chopped into small chips of 25 mm each. Although there are many varieties of bamboo available in the Northeast, no specific type is required for the fuel's production.

"We have identified 24 chipping units across four districts in the first phase. Of those, we have signed agreements with eight and four have already started supplying bamboo chips," the CEO said.

He said that at the full-scale operation, ABEPL will be the largest consumer of bamboo in the Northeast.

The world's first second-generation bio-ethanol plant is a 'zero-waste' facility, which will utilise all parts of the bamboo and is estimated to give a Rs 200-crore boost to the rural economy in the state.

The ABEPL is a joint venture company promoted by state-run Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL), and Finland-based Fortum 3 BV and Chempolis Oy.

Strengthening Indo-Japan cooperation in sustainable logistics, Japan-based Innovation Thru Energy (ITE) and IceBattery India on Tuesday launched the 'IceBattery Rail and Land Cold Chain Technology' at Bharat Mandapam.

The event, which took place on the occasion of Japan Foundation Day, is a movement to transform India's cold chain infrastructure with energy, efficient and climate resilient solutions.

The technology makes it possible to keep a stable temperature for perishables in transit without having to depend on continuous power or diesel- based refrigeration. One of the significant features of the event was the signing of a MoU between ITE and Kalyani Cast Tech for 'Make in India' container manufacturing, which will help the growth of domestic production and localisation.

Addressing the gathering, Deepak Kalia, CEO of IceBattery India, and Tatsuo Hosoi, Director of ITE Japan, outlined a shared vision for advanced logistics. Pankaj Garg, Founder and CEO of ITE, and Senior Advisor Tadamasa Ishida stressed that it is crucial to have scalable, low, carbon solutions that are not only effective but also in line with India's sustainability goals.

Sanjay Swarup, a representative from CONCOR, said technology is a key factor not only in increasing the capacity of rail- based freight but also in significantly reducing the energy consumption.

Katsuhiko Murayama (Former Director, METI Japan), Takashi Suzuki (JETRO), Shailendra Singh (Former Director, Ministry of Railways), Dr Prabhat (Commissioner, Ministry of Agriculture), and Sanjay Sharma (Director, SECI) were present at the event.

The programme started with Saraswati Vandana and Buddhist chanting and ended with a technology presentation and a ribbon cutting ceremony.

In his speech of thanks, Deepak Kalia pointed out that this project goes a long way in minimizing food loss after harvest and thus, is a major contribution towards food security.

The collaboration underlines the Indo- Japan pact to develop a modern and low emission supply chain for the plant- based and pharmaceutical sectors of the country.

The Postgraduate Department of English of Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma (GGDSD) College, Sector 32, held a six day Creative Writing and Haiku Workshop as an initiative to encourage literary expression and creative skills among students. The workshop was a blend of theory and hands- on practice. It was designed to familiarize the participants with different forms of poetic and reflective writing and invite the talents of eminent academicians, poets, and writers.

College Principal Dr Ajay Sharma was the one who welcomed everyone and appreciated the Department of English for its consistent creative and academic activities.

The Opening sessions were graced by Prof Deepti Gupta, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, and Neena Singh, a well known poet, author and social activist.

Prof Gupta who is a Fulbright Fellow and has 36 years of teaching experience, shared her work with insights from her engagement in teaching, supervision of research, development of curriculum, and university management among others.

A banker, turned poet from Chandigarh, Neena Singh talked about the significance of haiku as a means of expression, referring to her journey as a poet and the founder of an NGO that works for the education of underprivileged children.

Afterwards, the sessions were taken over by Dr. Urvi Sharma, Assistant Professor of English, Amity University, Mohali, a renowned author and scholar, whose books are published by international presses such as Bloomsbury and Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Besides them, the workshop also got a chance to be enriched by the sessions of Harender Kumar, Dr Poorva Trikha, Dr Mandeep Sanehi, and Balpreet Singh. They worked closely with the students, sharing secrets of storytelling, writing the self, poetry, editing, and ways of getting published.

During the vivid and interactive group work, the students were able to experiment with writing in various genres, find their distinctive stylistic voices, and gain an increase of self confidence in their creative abilities.

It was Pooja Sarin, the head of the department, who finally presented the vote of thanks. The workshop was convened by Harender Kumar and Dr Poorva Trikha.

As universities all over the world incorporate more and more sustainability studies to prepare for climate change, energy transitions, and social development, one crucial aspect keeps being overlooked: mental health. Students are quite thoroughly trained in how to solve environmental problems through science, policy, and innovation, however, very little attention is given to their emotional exhaustion when they work in fields which are characterized by urgency, uncertainty, and slow progress.

On top of being the challenge to the environment, climate change is also a challenge to the human psyche. When natural habitats change, people's behaviour, their level of stress and emotional health also change. Terms like eco, anxiety, climate grief, and activist burnout have become widely used, especially among young people. Though, in the majority of sustainability programmes, students hardly ever get prepared to face such issues.

Most of the time, sustainability jobs are portrayed as ones that are full of purpose and compelling and rightly so, they are. However, these jobs are also emotionally draining. Personnel are constantly facing situations such as political stalemates, insufficient financing, natural disasters happening over and over, and community suffering. Many young professionals, especially those from Generation Z entering the field, find themselves in a situation where the above- mentioned circumstances result in stress overload, emotional exhaustion, and a feeling of powerlessness. Nevertheless, university courses are still geared almost wholly towards the development of technical and analytical abilities.

It is said that experts are of the opinion that this gap is not sustainable anymore. Mental health must not be something that is at the disposal for extra hours and occasional counseling only. Emotional resilience should be the defining professional competency especially of those who are expected to be the social and environmental leaders in the long run.

Embedding mental health in sustainability education would be an extension of psychological literacy in all aspects of learning. Students will be equipped with knowledge on the effects of stress on their decision making, the role of emotions in inspiring leadership and negotiation, and how they can carry out emotional regulation and boundary setting even when they are under high pressure. When students go on fieldwork and community projects, they can be allowed some time for a reflection session that focuses on emotional experience as well as the technical outcome. Offering interdisciplinary courses that merge environmental studies with psychology would be another way to help students learn how human behaviour impacts environmental outcomes.

Besides, this change could be seen as opening the door to new possibilities for psychology professionals. In fact, psychotherapists and counselors are no longer finding their only employment opportunities inside clinics or hospitals as they extend their collaboration to climate organisations, NGOs, research institutes, and corporate sustainability teams. Their tasks vary from formulating resilience programs and performing behavioural studies to helping professionals getting burnt out and those suffering from distress caused by the current climatic changes. Mental health counselling careers are finding their way back to the forefront of sustainability, oriented sectors.

Institutions and policymakers should take the lead. Universities might identify mental well being as one of the learning outcomes, the accreditation bodies could require psychological competencies to be part of the programme standards, and the funding agencies may facilitate interdisciplinary research. Further, training faculty in mental health awareness and leveraging digital tools for counseling and peer support can help consolidate this ecosystem.

In the end, when mental health is included as part of sustainability education, it is a very strong statement that caring for the earth and caring for the people are totally interconnected. We cannot think of building a sustainable future if the minds are tired and the emotions are burnt out. Hence, emotionally resilient leaders might well be one of the greatest investments for the long term sustainability.