AID Pilani Chapter

ELECTRICITY IS BEING WASTED – ARE YOU HEARING???

Campaign: AWARENESS AGAINST ELECTRICITY WASTAGE

With kind support of:  Honorable Vice Chancellor, BITS PILANI – Shri. L.K.Maheshwari

In Association with: Student’s Union, BITS PILANI

“Today’s environment is in dire need of increase in energy efficiency and as far as electricity is concerned, ‘ENERGY SAVED IS ENERGY PRODUCED’.  Moreover, in INDIA as most of the electricity is still produced from thermal power plants and with current losses taken into account , it’s no surprise if we reveal the fact that for every unit of electricity which we are consuming ,on an average approximately 1.5 kg CO₂ is released in atmosphere. It is the same gas responsible for causing global warming in our environment.”

With these words of Ravi Teja, General Secretary, BITS PILANI, we kicked off our campaign from one of our hostel wing. Actually it was more of a one to one interaction. We simply explained the need to reduce the wastage of electricity to the students around us. Along with us we carried some slips which read “PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR FANS AND LIGHTS WHILE LEAVING YOUR ROOM”. After explaining everything we asked everyone that in case someone thinks that these slips can remind them of switching off their electronic appliances while leaving the room, then he/she can take the slip from us and stick it according to their place of convenience. It can be around the latches on the door so that while locking they can have a glance or above it, at eye level on the door or may be on the switch board , study table etc..  We were armed with fevisticks as we did not want people to make any excuses and would provide them simultaneously to the willing people to stick the slip on the spot.

Meanwhile we tried to take care of the fact that we are not blaming anyone for not switching off their lights and understood that no one does such act intentionally. Rather it was all being absent minded, about our forgetfulness which can be well tackled. In this way after 3 hours of exhaustive campaigning in rooms of about 80 students and with all our satisfaction for the day achieved, we gave the final halt for the day. One more thing I would like to add about the slips is that we carried 3 types of slips with us. Apart from the one mentioned above other two read “PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR MONITORS, FANS AND LIGHTS WHILE LEAVING YOUR ROOM” and “PLEASE PUT OFF THE LIGHTS WHEN NOT IN USE”. The first one was for students and the latter for bathrooms and common rooms .

Later on in next two days Ravi Teja discussed this agenda with our Honorable Vice Chancellor and was able to persuade him to take out some time from his schedule and speak to the students personally regarding this issue.

At the end of the day, after Vice Chancellor’s interaction with students we finished our job with another 300 students and now the preparations are on to increase our effectiveness for the left 3,500 students on campus.

We understand the fact quite well that it is not going to be a cake walk as was neither till now but simultaneously believe that  “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short ; but in setting our aim too low and achieving the mark”.

SAYONARA!!!

ALOK SONI

AID INDIA, PILANI CHAPTER