Look Inside a Home of Hope
Another journalism project based on environmental science had a bunch of us journalism students inadvertently sigh. Nevertheless, the fact that we were allowed to take our own transport for this “field trip” had us excitedly take to the streets, whizzing past each other in autos and bikes.
When we reached our destination, we found ourselves looking at a grove of bamboo trees. As long as we didn’t have to sing ‘Hakuna Matata’ to the pollution in the streets, we anticipated an interesting experience within the house that lay hidden behind the bamboo trees.
Enter Suresh D, the man that owned the house. He led us through the side passageways to the back of his house to a surprising reveal; a biogas plant.
He explained how he utilises his food waste, a daily average of about 3–4 kilograms (kgs) to produce approximately 20 kgs of biogas. He also told us his quirky idea of approaching vegetable vendors to borrow their vegetable waste to add to his biogas plant!
He said, “A ₹40,000 investment to install this plant has yielded a huge benefit for me! Ninety percent of the power I require to cook meals everyday is supplemented by this biogas plant.”
Although, it does not yield pressure like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders and also requires a separate cooking stove, he claimed that the initial checks with the investment and use of the plant bore lesser costs in maintenance, usage and higher productivity in the longer run. He added, “It is possible to do it (have it installed and used by people), but it is dependent on people’s attitude towards doing it.”
He even pointed out to his rainwater harvesting system and recounted how he had installed it 20 years back; an organic filtration system conceptualised before the mandatory rainwater harvesting movement by the Tamil Nadu government in 2001.
He described his rainwater harvesting system which had an in-built organic filtration system with three different layers: pebbles, charcoal and sand. He even observed the pattern of water stagnation in and around his house and installed cavities in the floor with pipelines (eight inch diameter; 15 feet length) attached underground to prevent wastage of stagnant water.
When questioned about his adoption of waste-water recycling methods, he mentioned that was one of his pending desires to bring to life. He said, “I would like to treat the wastewater in a non-chemical method.”
Talking about the fear of water scarcity in the summer, he smiled proudly at the well in his backyard and claimed he was ready for the heat. He also said there was a lot to learn from recent scientific innovations and adopt its learnings. “I’m quite fascinated with the Israeli technique of of the air to water generator,” he added. The technology, developed by Israeli entrepreneur Arye Kohavi with the help of engineers, uses a series of filters to purify the air. After the air is sucked in and chilled to extract its humidity, the water that forms is treated and transformed into clean drinking water. The technology uses a plastic heat exchanger rather than an aluminum one, which helps reduce costs; it also includes a proprietary software that operates the devices.
Leading us through the stairs of his house, we wondered what else this man had in store for us to be fascinated with! We reached the terrace area, where he had set out a terrace garden and solar panels.
Growing different fruits and vegetables such as chillis, lemons, cabbages, brinjals, capsicums, tomatoes, and a variety of spinaches; Suresh explains to us his method of terrace gardening. Using plastic pot pouches on raised platforms to grow plants, he has around 120 plastic pots of plants.
He even let us in on his technique to keep the plants healthy; to apply ‘pancha kavya’ oils or neem oils under the leaves of plants to keep them healthy and grow faster. “I’ve been doing this for almost 10–15 years. Even though I grow these many fruits and vegetables, I do have to go to market sometimes. I can’t grow everything,” he adds, laughing.
Turning towards the massive solar panels on other raised terrace portions of his house, he showed us that he had eight, 250 kilowatts solar panels and ten, one kilowatt solar panels. Nodding disapprovingly at a student’s inquisition of the panels’ expensiveness, he said, “What is considered expensive in today’s world? I did have to pay quite a bit when I initially bought these, but I have reaped so many benefits and the money I invested has returned back in the form of greater electricity generation over the years at lower costs for me!”
With no tariff increase and an eight percent return on investment (ROI) potential, he estimated the investment payback period of solar panels to be six years. He even recounted how he still had his electrical power, up and running, during the Chennai floods and cyclone Vardha; all because of his dedication and environmentally-friendly choice of switching to solar panels for electricity generation. “When I switched on all my power and watched my neighbours come to us, one by one, for help and resources; it was such sadistic pleasure of making good life decisions,” he said.
Finally making our last stop at the bottom closet area of the stairs, he showed us how he had utilised solar energy to be the main source of power for his household and a DC powered system. He also explained how the was negligible transmission loss and with Chennai’s warm weathers, the potential power generation through solar energy.
This trip to Suresh’s home of hope, has opened my eyes to the possibilities we have often overlooked; terrace gardening, smarter and observant rainwater harvesting and the utilisation of solar panels and biogas plants, in our daily lives. As Suresh said, it is all but our attitude to move towards a better and greener future.
Suresh. D is also a TedX speaker. Check out the link below:
To achieve self sustainability one need not be a millionaire| Suresh D | TEDxGCT
