Innovating India through Green Energy
We reach the backside of the Mysore palace, near Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple where an E-week banner draped over a Maruti van stands out catching our attention and that of the on-lookers. We are greeted by an enthusiastic crowd, all of whom are wearing blue tee shirts reading E-Week 2013 ONYX*, bubbling with zest and spark. They are visibly excited about their prototypes, which include solar cookers, water purifiers, mechanical wells and biodiesel; they jubilantly tell us about them.
Innovating For India, is the theme of E-Week 2013 and the students of NIE realize it through their endeavors in Green Energy.
The main event for this day was the Greenathon, a cycle marathon with over 120 cyclist and volunteers covering every corner of the city to spread awareness on Green Energy and the sustainable models they have developed. The marathon was flagged off by the Police Commissioner of Mysore, Mr. K. L. Sudhir who after learning about biodiesel and the plant setup at NIE, promised that all the Police vehicles in Mysore thereby would be run by biodiesel.
NIE has a very strong E-Cell with over six hundred members and Alumni. The Almuni are always kept in loop; some of them even take part in the E-Week as volunteers. They say, “Nostalgia brings us back; we like to help and guide, meet, re-unite and bond again.”
The Vice-President of Onyx*, Jyeshta proudly informs us that they made the E-Week self-sustainable this year, totally run by the campus ventures they’ve started and established.
Later, we are taken on a tour to NIE CREST-(Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies) and the Bio-Diesel plant, which is their flagship project, funded by the Biofuel Board of Karnataka. The plant produces about fifty liters per day, providing fuel for all the vehicles in the campus. The source for the biodiesel is the non-edible seed such as Pongamia and the processed seed is sold as manure.
The other major event for the day is E-Hunt, the objective of which is to collate and present the interviews the students have conducted of the entrepreneurs in the city. They surveyed about eighty entrepreneurs in retail, food and beverages, automobile and other industries. Later, they brainstormed on the problems these entrepreneurs faced and also came up with some viable solutions.
The students at NIE are passionate, motivated and focused. They have clarity of thought and proper direction to their efforts, which is bringing fruitful returns on the projects and ventures they have taken up.
*Onyx is the E-Cell of National Institute of Engineering.
