At 16, Ahaan Mohan has great passion and deep knowledge of matters about the environment. He believes that reducing energy consumption in buildings, accounting for 46 per cent of India’s total energy use, will help preserve environment.
In November last, Ahaan, an 11th grader at DPS
Noida, conducted an energy audit in his school in coordination with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and ICF International and devised an energy management programme for the school.
“My principal was very encouraging and decided to implement my energy-efficiency measures,” he says.
Mohan, who heads the school’s Environment Committee, with 11 other students, collected data such as the number of tubelights, fans, and ACs, computers, etc in the school, and duration of their use. His plan included developing a baseline of energy consumption of school building, identifying areas for energy efficiency gains, and to provide an ‘energy efficiency’ roadmap for the school.
The school has already spent Rs 2 lakh on his suggestions: maintenance of ACs, CRT computer monitors with energy efficient LCD monitors, etc.
The result shows. “Compared to January last, the school’s electricity bill is already down by 15 per cent this January, and the entire programme is yet to be implemented,” he says.
Encouraged, he is now revising his target of 20 per cent energy saving in the school to 40 per cent.