Biochar the new Black Gold - Event Update!

Dear All, 

Writing after a long time, this is my first blog of 2021. Hope all are fine and taking all the safety precautions in this difficult times. As we try and settle after almost a yearlong lockdown with the most awaited ‘VACCINE’ having a lot of speculations, we are adapting to the NEW normal. 

The NEW normal is all about working cohesively and in collaboration for fighting towards the biggest challenges posed by climate change. Samuchit Enviro Tech, OrjaBox and Rupa Rahul Baja Centre for Environment and Arts (RRBCEA) are committed towards the same cause and working towards user friendly innovative solutions based on using renewable sources of energy that will help reduce the impacts of climate change happening directly or indirectly.  

 

One such innovative solution introduced by Samuchit Enviro Tech is biochar, where dried leaves (garden waste) are turned to char which can be used as renewable fuel (termed as new black gold that is climate friendly) and other applications like deodorizers and charcoal soaps. OrjaBox is an initiative run by Vishakha Chandhere which provides Sustainable cooking options using solar cookers and biochar fueled steam cookers based on service model. RRBCEA is a facility located in Empress garden for conducting environment and arts focused initiatives. Samuchit Enviro Tech along with OrjaBox has been conducting regular sessions at RRBCEA on processing biochar and experiencing cooking with renewable energy, namely, solar and biochar.

 

Its a pleasure to know that this initiative has been received well with corporate leaders like Mrs. Arti Kirloskar and a few government officers who are leading to promote environmental causes. Here's an update on the latest happenings. 

 

The first demonstration was conducted on the 10th of Feb, 2021 by Ravindra Deshmukh and Prashant Borate from Samuchit Enviro Tech and Vishakha Chandhere and Sujata. This event was focused on showing how to convert waste biomass into biochar using Samuchit's trashflasher kiln, followed by a meal cooked by the OrjaBox team using Solar cookers and Samuchit steam cooker fueled by biochar briquettes. Mrs. Arti Kirloskar and a team of ten members attended this session. Here are some of the photos of this event. 

 

 

 

The second event was conducted on the 13th February for a group of four people along with Mr. Pramod Jadhav, Upaayukt, Samaj Kalyan Vibhag, Sindhudurg. The focus of this event was a demonstration of the trashflasher kiln. Mr. Pramod Jadhav was so impressed by this, that he purchased a kiln for his own farm in Alibaug. The visitors also could experience the flavour of solar cooking thanks to OrjaBox. Here are some of the photos of this event.

  

 

 

 

  

Both the demonstrations were focused on environment and climate friendly ways of managing garden and farm waste and using renewable energy for household cooking. 

 

We will soon be announcing our next session which would include training on use of biochar for various other applications. Curious to know more? Write to us at samuchit@samuchit.com for more information. 

  Pournima Agarkar and Vishakha Chandhere.

www.samuchit.com

Like/Follow/Share us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter  Citizens of Sustainable Pune

Additional links:

https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/civic/biochar-new-way-to-fight-pollution/articleshow/67799076.cms

https://samuchitenvirotech.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-city-my-responsibility-climate-friendly-garden-waste-management.html

https://samuchitenvirotech.blogspot.com/2019/02/my-city-my-responsibility-climate-friendly-workshops.html

https://samuchitenvirotech.blogspot.com/2020/10/RethinkingCookingstyles.html

My City My Responsibility - Biogas technology for all by VAAYU

Dear All,

Picture collage

Under the Citizens Charter and Action Agenda for Sustainable Pune initiative as mentioned in my earlier blog we are showcasing local sustainable technologies that can be adopted by anyone who yearns for a Sustainable lifestyle. 

In the last week on 28th Feb, we successfully conducted a workshop in collaboration with Vaayu Mitra who deals with household Biogas technology by conversion of kitchen waste to fuel. Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe the promoter of this technology is an enthusiastic engineer who has been driving this initiative to go LPG free by using household organic waste. There are almost 130 installations till date that are converting about 1 ton of food waste per day. Right from school going children to aged senior citizens can easily operate this technology. It has been installed in more than 10 cities now. 

We got an overwhelming response to the workshop held in Indradhanushya centre for Citizenship and Environment Education and that too on a weekday evening. It just shows that Pune is slowly moving towards a Sustainable City which is the aim of our project on Citizens Charter for Sustainable Pune.

I would like to narrate some key aspects of the workshop that fascinated me.

I briefly tried to explain the relevance of this workshop to our study that we have been doing on making the city Sustainably SMART through Citizens active participation and engagement. We are playing a role of a connector between the citizens and Sustainable solution providers. Our idea is to reach out to more and more people with sustainable solutions in order to enable them towards sustainability and in turn making the city Sustainable.

Then, Priyadarshan Sahasraddhe, introduced the technology and its working with the help of a diagram and narrated his journey which was quite a struggle to apply engineering fundas on ground. He mentioned that meeting Dr Anand Karve and working under his guidance for developing the biogas technology helped him learn key lessons. Apart from this he believes in 'Small is beautiful' and linking it to Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) has been his idea of a Green Investor.

We were fortunate to have Dr Anand Karve in the workshop, being a botanist and an innovator having a scientific aptitude, he explained the basics behind the functioning of Biogas very well. Though he is not a microbiologist, I have never heard anyone talk about microbes and bacteria so well as he does. He is a pro bacteria man I can say. How do bacteria's function and what they need he knows very well. He always talks about sugar as the main source of food for bacteria and how efficient they can work once they get their dose of sugar, is something that has been one of his successful findings.

As mentioned earlier, school students are operating this plant at their school and are saving quite a lot of energy in the school. Two active and very responsible students of Jnana Probodini school Chinchwad explained how the model is not just a project of the school, but their friend whom they take care by giving timely input of food and in turn it gives them energy, manure and lots of lessons. I feel that schools having such LIVE and active projects managed by students themselves, not only make them better humans but also better role models of Sustainable lifestyles. Listening to them gave a new hope for the future generations and a Sustainable human society that coexists in harmony with its surrounding.

We also had SWACH representatives here who shared their experience of using Vaayu. The confidence they gained, showed how empowered they feel by using this technology and running it as a self sustainable model for organic waste management.

Then a group of Vaayu mitras, people who are using Vaayu at their homes daily, came up and shared their experience. Each Vaayu mitra is happy to have the Biogas in their house. They explained that there is a trial and testing phase with Vaayu, but once we get familiar with its behavior, it becomes a member of the family playing a crucial role and making us feel proud that we not only manage our organic waste but also generate our own fuel. 

One of the Vaayu mitra, a lady named Mamta, working on a farm and operating three Biogas plants needs a special mention. I liked her way of expressing her experience she was absolutely natural. She rightly mentioned that there is no waste in nature, even the leftover food has potential to generate energy if utilized appropriately. She clearly stated that if such installations of Biogas are available in the village through BachatGat schemes then the women in the village using smoke generating fuelwood that causes harmful impacts on their health as well as the forest will be healthy and smoke free. Though she is smoke free now because of Vaayu, she yearns that her fellow beings in the village should also get relief from the smoke. When we talk about Sustainable technologies they should be based on a win-win approach and her speech truly reflected it. Hats off to her!!!

Listening to all of their experiences and knowledge they have gained, it simply showed that how each one feels socially responsible and are happy to contribute their bit for the society. Dr Javdekar one of the senior most member using Vaayu stressed that how economically it is viable in his house where their yearly quota of LPG cylinders has been reduced drastically.

I wondered if generating fuel at source may be hazardous, however the plant is completely safe to be used at a household level expressed each and every Vaayu mitra. However space is something that is required for setting up a considerable capacity of Vaayu to make it viable. Nevertheless its worth an investment, may be at a society level, if not feasible at a household level, for ensuring sustainable management of organic waste.

Dr Priyadarshini Karve concluded the session where she stressed on the Citizens role in making a city Sustainable and how such local solutions are the key to resolve the global problems.

I am glad that we have video documented the entire workshop, the video will be available soon for all. Meanwhile if anyone wants to know more about Vaayu, please feel free to contact Priyadarshan S at priyadarshan.21@gmail.com

Pournima Agarkar. 

www.samuchit.com