IISc's green gang and its watchful eye on nature

IISc's green gang and its watchful eye on nature


Sameer Ranjan Bakshi Express News ServiceFirst Published : 07 Jun 2010 08:39:15 AM IST
BANGALORE: Meet the Green Gang of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), a group of enterprising students who have started installing digital meters in every department of IISc to enable the boffins know how much electricity are they consuming.
The 10 core members of the gang, who belong to different departments, found that although the premier institute has among the greenest of campuses in India, it has no meters in any of its departments. Nobody knew how much electricity does the institute consume every month, except for the power supply company which records its electricity bill.
After the installation of meters, researchers will know the amount of power consumed by each of the laboratories and equipment. The students' plan is aimed at cutting down excess power consumption. Each department will know the peak period and peak equipment which consume electricity. Unlike ordinary ones, these meters, manufactured by a private company, can log data which can be transferred to computers for analysis.
The Green Gang, also responsible for the greenery of the IISc campus, have planted hundreds of saplings around the new buildings. They also collect dry leaves in the campus and turn them into organic manure which is used for nourishing the saplings.
Sreedhar, one of the member, said, "The nursery of the institute helps us by providing whatever plants we need. We have a nursery where we grow these plants."
The gang is also responsible for installing Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) near the library areas. They have jointly taken initiatives with the Centre for Campus Management and Development (CCMD) to replace all the fluorescent lights in the campus with LEDs.
They also play a major role in name every tree in the campus, to help conservation of trees.
They have also put up notices reading "Please close the tap after use" beside every tap in the institute. "What's the use of putting notices in every department, where everybody will see and forget?" Sreedhar added.
In case one is surprised by the absence of plastic in the campus, one might as well thank the Green Gang, as they get up early every Saturday to clean up all the plastics strewn across the campus.