Other institutes

BENGALURU: For students in Delhi Public School (East) using solar energy and keeping a tab on energy consumption is just not limited to books and awareness activities.Six months ago, the school management completed a 100KW solar rooftop panel project and since then students have been conducting energy consumption audits for their school as well as homes."The solar rooftop panel has been installed at the school building for power backup. Students have been comparing bills from different months to calculate the amount of electricity saved. They are doing it for the school and their homes," said Manila Carvahlo, principal, DPS East.Other branches of DPS are also in the process of going solar. Power saved will be sent to the grid, said Mansoor Khan , member board of management, DPS schools.The Central Board of Secondary Education ( CBSE ) also wants its schools to be solar-powered as soon as possible. In a notification on August 14, the board asked schools to use renewable energy. "Schools/educational institutions consume a lot of electricity for their daily functioning, which is presently sourced from non-renewable sources, a major sources of environmental pollution. The schools are also installing heavy duty generators which run on diesel, which aggravates air pollution. The government, in order to promote the use of clean energy, has initiated National Solar Mission to control air pollution and discourage the use of fossil fuels for energy needs," said the notification.CBSE has asked its schools to make best use of vacant space like rooftops to install solar panels. Besides DPS, other educational institutions that have installed solar rooftop photovoltaic (SRTPV) systems, according to Bescom records, are Mount Carmel College, Samsidh Educational Society, Holy Cross Convent, Shri Ramana Maharishi Blind School and a few government schools.Dakshayini Kanna, director and principal of Harvest International School, said, "Our new building, which is coming up near Sarjapur Road , will run entirely on solar power."