Renewable Energy

We sat in a plush climate-controlled room and deliberated climate change as the outside world collapsed around us..

Offered by 

The Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL)

Location

Village of Phey, 18 km from Leh

Courses offered

The course shall be divided into two modules of two weeks each:

Indian farmers depend on groundwater for irrigation but often, there is a shortage of electricity that is required to pump out this water. While diesel pumps are an option, they are costly to run. A better alternative is to tap into freely available solar power. However, this technology is quite expensive at present and effective subsidies and incentives drive its usage.

In this technique, transparent containers are filled with contaminated water and placed in direct sunlight for at least 6 h, after which time it becomes safe to drink. This simple, straightforward disinfection method that utilises the abundant, freely available sunlight is low cost, easy to use and sustainable.

A visit to Oddoor farms near Mangalore, Karnataka, provides an inspiring example of the efforts made by Rajesh Naik ji to transform 120 acres of barren land into a lush green farm through his persistent efforts of creating a two acre and fifty feet deep lake, which has not only transformed the surrounding area, but has also helped in improving the water table in the surrounding village, besides helping in the development of a self sufficient organic farm and a dairy.

Oddoor farms, around 25 kilometres away from Mangalore city is a great example of a very successful effort made by Rajesh Naik ji who has transformed 120 acres of barren land into a self sufficient organic farm by developing a 50 feet lake on two acres of land.  The journey has been a long one and not without its share of challenges, but persistence and constant optimism and hard work to overcome challenges has reaped results in the last twenty years, informs Rajesh Naik ji.

Rajesh Naik ji near the lake he has developed at the Oddoor farms near Mangalore

The February edition of the TRINet has the following highlights: 

The city corporation of Madurai decides to power all the parks with solar energy.

This side event at the Convention on Biological Diversity, CoP-XI, Hyderabad on 16^th October, 2012 was organized by South Asian Dialogues on Ecological Democracy (SADED) in collaboration with Collective for Self Learning on Biodiversity, Beyond Copenhagen, Center for Local Health Traditions, CECOEDECON, Harit Swaraaj, Kisan Swar

Organizers

Prayas and several friends and well-wishers of Girish Sant, a pioneering policy researcher and public interest advocate in the energy sector who passed away unexpectedly in February 2012, have set up a Young Researcher Fellowship (YRF) to encourage young researchers to imbibe his values and approach of high quality analysis, commitment to social equity and emphasis on policy impacts.

Objectives

The objectives of the fellowship are to encourage young Indian researchers to take up public interest oriented research and advocacy in the Indian energy sector, and to provide some financial and professional stability to youngsters at an early stage of their career.