Environment Consciousness
Does the Institute conduct a Green Audit of its campus and facilities?
In the form of green audit the management is constantly concerned about ways and means of making the college premises energy independent. In this direction several projects have been taken up to make the buildings green. Minimal use of artificial lights, use of LED lights, installation of solar panels and installations of ACs, fans and refrigerators of at least 3 star ratings to cut the power consumption by 50%, are some of the innovations the college has undertaken to minimize electricity consumption.
The college environment is clean and pollution free.
What are the initiatives taken by the college to make the campus Eco friendly?
Energy conservation:
- The class rooms/lecture halls are well ventilated and they do not require artificial light during the day ti
- Use of LED tubes in the class rooms and office The staff & students are instructed to shut off all lights and fans when not in use.
- All electrical appliances and equipments are switched off by the lab coordinators after wor
- All the tube lights have been replaced by LED branded tube lights which are expensive but consume very little electricity.
- We firmly believe that one unit of electricity saved is one unit of electricity produce
Use of renewable energy:
The management is sensitive to the issue of electricity shortages and the need for tapping renewable sources of energy. In this direction, a series of solar panels with tracking device have been installed on the roof of the building to trap sunlight constantly from dawn to dusk. Nearly 20,000 watts of power is being produced by these solar panels which is sufficient to meet most of the requirement of the college. Hyderabad has nearly 350 sunny days in a year and hence the college can be run on solar energy, without depending on external power supply or the 30 KVA generator installed in the college.
In addition to this, all the normal fluorescent tube lights have been replaced by LED tube lights which save 50% electricity. Similarly ceiling fans have been replaced by 3 star energy saving fans which cut the consumption by 50%.
A great advantage of installation of the solar panels is that the electricity produced is shared and passed on to the city‘s electricity grid, after the closure of the college at 3P.M. daily and on holidays and in vacation. This act is viewed by the management as its social obligation and commitment to the society in the power sector. In this way we also fulfill the Institutional Social Responsibility and from a consumer, we have become a producer of Energy.
Water harvesting:
The college constructed rain water harvesting pits in the campus which helps to increase the water levels in the Bore wells. The college hence has sufficient water resources and does not need to procure water from outside. All the water from the roof is directed into the water harvesting pits.
Efforts for Carbon neutrality:
- The College has taken up certain preventive measures to check excessive emission of carbon diox
- Arrangements for parking vehicles by Staff/students at the entrance of the college are done in open air so that campus remains pollution free.
- Limited use of refrigerators, air conditioners and other carbon emitting equipments within the permitted levels makes our campus almost a zero carbon emission camp
- We are planning to form a eco club comprising students, which undertakes eco friendly initiatives regularly.
- Every year ―World Environment Day is celebrated in the college to create awareness and make students eco friendly.
- Once every year, students are taken out to the neighboring villages for planting sapling
Plantation:
- Due to unavailability of open ground, ornamental and flowering plants are grown in pots.
- The college faculty also tries to create awareness among the students through the curr
- The college organizes programs like Vanamahotsavam every year to inculcate an interest, awareness and responsibility among the students towards the environmen
- The responsibility of watering the pot-plants is dedicated to different groups of students who water and nurture the plants, daily.
Hazardous waste and e waste management:
- College has taken initiatives for disposal of hazardous wastes after practicals and e waste created by Science, Biotechnology and Computer departmen
- Repair and rectification of equipment wherever possible is undertaken to extend their life and reduce e wa
- Every lab has separate waste bins for hazardous biodegradable, non biodegradable and e wa
Innovations:
Give details of innovations introduced during the last four years which have created a positive impact on the functioning of the college.The college has been scaling new heights ever since its inception. The college has made several innovations which has helped smooth functioning of the college. These innovations include administration, academics and other levels of college working.
Administration Innovations:
- After attending conference/seminar/workshop, the faculty share their experiences & content with their colleagues in the de
- The administrative staff has been given formal training in usage of computers & periphera
- The computer systems are utilized to the maximum extent in the day to day functioning of the college.
- 13 CC TV cameras have been installed in all important places to keep an eye on the movements of students and to keep tight security inside the ca
- All class-rooms are fitted in the public address system to enable the administration to make important announcements to the stude
- Every day after the commencement of the first period attendance of the students is taken and an SMS is immediately sent to the parents of the students who fail to attend the college.
Academic innovations:
Institution has introduced many innovative practices to help students in their pursuit of attaining quality education.
- The teachers have adopted a practice of conducting regular tests to assess the learning capacity of the
- Teachers also adopt a practice of preparing question bank prepared from previous question papers for each subject and the random selection of the questions from them during regular tests improves the performance of the students in their annual examinati
- Institution has introduced remedial classes for the students having backlogs which would help them to boost their knowledge and also improve their performance.
- As a part of curriculum students present their projects through power point prese
- The institution is also having a proposal to provide e- learning by computerization of library to gain the updated knowledge of the subject and utilization of present day technology like smart class rooms fitted with smart boa
Feedback mechanism:
The feedback mechanism is designed to assess the level of knowledge, communication skills, sincerity, commitment and accessibility of teachers. The feedback by the students is analyzed from time to time by H.O.D/Principal. Teachers are also counseled by departmental head or Principal regarding measures to improve subject understanding/teaching skills.
Best Practices:
Elaborate on any two best practices as per the annexed format (see Page.) which have contributed to the achievement of the Institutional Objectives and/or contributed to the Quality improvement of the core activities of the college.
I – Title of the practice
|| SPREAD KNOWLEDGE TO GET ACKNOWLEDGED‖
- Goal
The science & social club was constituted by all the Life Sciences & Commerce students to create an awareness about the various issues related to young boys and girls. The students would visit various schools and hold lectures, model presentation, poster presentation & Exhibition to make them aware of sensitive issues, social problems & topics related to health & hygiene. As teenagers, students are faced with myths alround and more often than not, end up believing in them and allow these myths to become the basis for building their knowledge with misconcepts, until it is too late. We feel that if the right information & facts are made known to them at the right time, then ignorance could be dispelled. Our favorite phrase is ―shed lies, spread light‖.
- The Context
The students of Life Sciences & Commerce initiated the process and approached the administration with proposals for adopting two Government schools in our vicinity for conducting exhibitions, lectures, model presentations, poster presentations to spread scientific and social knowledge relevant to them. The administration gave unstinted support to this project and sought the help of Life science faculty to train our students in achieving their objectives. The administration considered this project as a necessity and treated this more as the ―Institutional Social Responsibility‖. After indepth and long discussions 20 most appropriate topics covering all areas of science and society were selected for this activity.
The entire process of dispensing knowledge in Government schools was going to be FREE OF COST but still we anticipated on few obstacles in our mission. It is generally understood that few Principals of Government School did not encourage outsiders to come and address their students, until they are convinced about the values and benefits of such programmes.
- The Practice
This concept of dissemination of knowledge with the help of lectures, models, posters, exhibitions sounded interesting and feasible at the beginning. Students got ready with their models and charts and started practicing their verbal and visual presentations for several days. The main challenge before them was how to simplify the concepts to suit the young minds and make it understandable and palatable. Under the able guidance of faculty a ―PPPP‖ Plan for student presentation was developed – ―Prepare, Plan, Practice, Preach‖. Once the teachers were sure that the ―4P‖ plan was perfected by all the participating students, then they were put on the launch pad and taken to the real field. The transition from virtual to real was an exhilarating experience for the participants. The school children responded with the same kind of interest in events, as the topics discussed therein touched the hearts of all children as they were concerned about most of the issues which were contemporary.
Every topic of discussion chosen was presented in the form of lecture, model, poster which made communication easy. The 20 topics chosen in the first spell are as follows:-
- Learning disabilities
- Improvement of memory
- Global warming
- Malnutrition
- Diseases spread by mosquitoes
- Ebola
- Water harvesting
- Soil erosion & plantation
- Vitamin deficiency
- Meditation
- Cell phones a social menace
- Disposal & Biodegradation of waste
- Antibiotics & their abuse
- Menstrual hygiene & girl education
- Child safety
- Vaccines & their importance
- Healthy habits
- Road safety
- First aid
- Career plan
We felt that this kind of ―knowledge Adoptions‖ would go a long way in spreading awareness and knowledge amongst the school children in building their personality and character. Its true that regular curriculum is being taught to them in the class rooms but discussion on topics and areas other than those in the text books is beyond the scope of teaching schedule. This limitation with the school curriculum prompted us to adopt these two schools for elucidating these extracurricular topics. The schools were chosen after a formal survey and it was then decided to initiate our act of Institutional Social Responsibility by adopting two schools, one for boys and one for girls, Government Model High School for Boys, Aliya and Government Mahbubia Girls High School, Hyderabad.
- Evidence of Success
The outcome of this practice was as satisfying to us as it was for the school children and their teachers. The school children in both the schools were excited at the prospect of holding these events in their school on a regular basis. During the course of the events the school children in both the schools participated with great enthusiasm and this in turn motivated our college students to perform better. We expected a positive response from the students but never imagined that it would be to such great extent. What made the presentation interesting was the fact that this was the first time any external college had visited the school campus for this kind of event. The other factor was, that most of the students were unaware or misinformed of the facts relating to most of the topics of discussion.
Though we realized that we were doing a wonderful job, we wanted to confirm this by obtaining a feedback from all the participants, teachers, students, Principal after the event for assessment. The enthusiasm, happiness & contentment seen on the faces of the young children translated into written form and almost 90% of the students appreciated the programme in the feedback form and also wanted more programmes on other topics.
- Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Serious problems were not encountered but certain apprehensions existed. One problem anticipated was with the English language. In the Government schools identified most students preferred local Telugu or Hindi / Urdu language to understand the concept in a better way. Though formal training was given to our students in English, we also prepared them in local languages. Mobilizing funds for the projects was not very difficult. However, transporting the girl students, their models and charts to the schools, safe and secure was a big task. The Management was magnanimous in providing transport by way of Bus to carry all the 50 girls & faculty to the Government schools whenever required. Four members of faculty always accompany our girls when they visit these schools.
- Notes
The response from the students of these two government schools was overwhelming and the administration of these schools did not hesitate to compliment our students for conducting this programme in their schools. It was a very satisfying experience for our students and teachers who were happy to fulfill their social responsibility.
As a gratitude for permitting us to conduct these events in their schools & for allowing us to take up the responsibility of creating awareness in their school children, a fully furnished ― FIRST AID BOX‖ was presented to the two Government
schools for the use of their students.
In our opinion this practice is worthy to be followed and emulated and can be considered as Best Practice.
II – Title of the practice
|| UNIT POWER SAVED IS UNIT POWER GENERATED‖
- Goal
Telangana is a newly formed 29th state of Indian Union, but riddled with several problems. The biggest problem faced by the city of Hyderabad is the shortage of electricity, which is ridden with frequent shut down, thereby dislocating normal life of citizens. The need of the hour is to become self- sufficient in power sector by generating electricity using solar panels. The alternate way of generating electricity is by using the renewable Solar Energy. Our goal as a responsible institution is to tap Solar Energy and use it in the day to day functioning of the college. We have achieved our Goal by installing Solar panels on the roof of the building which generates 20,000 watts of electricity & makes us self sufficient.
- The Context
The practice of tapping Solar Energy using Solar panels is wonderful, as we can create electricity without causing pollution and free of cost. But this project does have its limitations like all others. The major problem with the process of tapping Solar Energy is the exorbitant initial cost of installation incurred for Solar panels and its peripherals. However, the Government of India through the ―Ministry of New & Renewable Energy‖ (MNRE) offers 30% – 40% subsidies for the installation of Solar Power. This support from the Government reduces the pricing & encourages Solar
Power. The only other limitation we encounter is that the power generation drops drastically on rainy days make it handicapped. However, if there are 15 rainy days in Hyderabad, there are 350 sunny days, in a year.
- The Practice
The Management is sensitive to the issues of electricity utilization & its shortages with frequent shutdowns and with escalating costs of electricity, running the college curriculum was becoming difficult. It was then that the Management decided to go for installation of solar panels on the roof top of the college building. To improve the electricity generation, a tracking device was also installed which helps the solar panels to face the sun from sunrise to sunset, thereby increasing the generating power by about 30%. Since the cost of installation of solar panels is too high, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Government of India has extended a subsidy of 35%. The solar panels installed can generate about 20 KW (20,000 watts) of electric power which is sufficient to meet the needs of the college in the day time. To bring down the cost of the installation, storage devices (Batteries) were avoided as electricity was not required in the college after sunset. After the installation of these solar panels the electricity bills were cut down drastically. More important, it gave a moral satisfaction to us that we are producing pollution free electricity without causing any damage to the environment or contributing to global warming.
However, the most remarkable feature of this project undertaken is that while there, is a mechanism for utilization of electricity generated by the Solar panels on all working days, there is built-in system in the machinery which transmits the electricity produced to the City Electric Grid on holidays, Vacation and after closure of the college in the evening. This act on our part is in accordance with Institutional Social Responsibility.
The quantity of electricity produced and contributed to Grid for public use could be small, but is very significant. The power transmitted to the Grid is measured and money is paid to the institution by the Electricity Department, Government of Telangana for producing and sharing electricity.
The Management strongly believes that every unit of electricity saved is one unit of electricity produced. But here is an instance that literally we are acting as electricity generating station and contributing our mite to overcome the shortages faced by our city.
- Evidence of Success
Sujatha Degree & PG College is the first affiliated college in the city to install solar panels and become not only Energy independent but also be a contributor.
In order to save more energy, all the tube lights of the class- rooms and labs have been replaced by LED Tube lights which are expensive but consume only 50% electricity compared to normal tube light. Similarly, all the fans have been replaced by branded fans of 3 star rating which again consume less electricity. Green Audit is given priority, after academics, as it is equally important.
The class-rooms are well ventilated and do not require either artificial light or use of ceiling fans on normal sunny days. All CRT monitors which consume high energy have been replaced by LED panel monitors which consume very little energy. Further improvement in conservation of energy is the use of thin clients in all computer systems which are connected to the server through LAN. The thin clients consume as little as 4 watts of power only, thereby saving thousands of watts. The success of all these steps taken to conserve electricity has paid rich dividends by way of cutting down our electricity bills to a large extent. This money saved could be utilized for betterment of other facilities in the college.
- Problems Encountered and Resources Required
Though the concept is worthy of emulation and praise worthy, the initial investment in installation of solar photo voltaic panels is very high. In order to make it affordable the Government of India, through the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is offering a subsidy of 35% to 40%. Inspite of this, the cost still remain prohibitive. Inspite of the high costs, the management decided to invest on it to become the champion in the cause of harvesting Solar Energy. The management was convinced that the investment made today will start paying back tomorrow.
For the management, the social responsibility was more important than the efforts to raise money for the investment in solar panels. Undoubtedly, this is the practice that the college has adopted in order to contribute its efforts in lowering the Global warming by harvesting pollution free energy for self consumption and also contributing to the electricity generated to the City‘s Grid for public consumption. The feeling of becoming a producer from a mere consumer is very satisfying and heartening.
- Notes
It is generally understood that we are paying the price of industrialization by way of causing higher emission of green house gases, particularly CO2. Thermal power plants cause great damage to environment by pumping tons and tons of harmful gases into atmosphere. Hydro electric projects generate electricity only when water level in the reservoir is full in monsoon season. The only alternative left for us to create electric energy is by tapping Solar Energy.
We have gone one step forward by transmitting excess electricity produced to the Grid for public consumption. The electricity department pays the college for generating and contributing electricity to the Grid. This arrangement could be considered as consultancy services. The electricity bills were cut by 50% after the installation of Solar panels and the large amount of money that was saved was utilized for bettering the facilities of the college. We are proud to make this project as the Best practice.