India's first 'learning by doing' sustainable network of students was launched on Friday to help the youth to be prepared for building Smart Cities of the future and contributing to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through practical experience in their own educational campuses
"It is not surprising that most education campuses are one of the major consumers of natural resources like electricity, water and other consumables. The network will establish a cloud hosted Internet Of Things (IOT) platform for energy, water and air quality," a statement from the Pune-based TERRE Policy Centre that has launched the initiative in collaboration with Ecolibrium Energy, said.
"This will encourage campuses to reduce their carbon footprint by inducing behavioural changes through analytics, and deployment of sustainable business models for energy efficient and green energy solutions," the statement added.
Noting that 17 new SDGs were adopted by all the 193 countries in the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week, the statement said: "The vision of the SmartCampusCloud Network stems from the need of skilled resources and piloting of the projects essential for the larger objective of creating a world of Sustainable Living."
The initiative will be run through start-up funding arrangements with energy services companies (ESCOs), including the Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) of the union power ministry.
"Similar business models would be the critical elements that will be promoted by the network," the statement said.
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The participating campuses "will benefit from the virtual community of campuses in India and abroad, online/offline access to industry experts, and sharing of success stories, with an objective of developing a competitive Smart Campus Index and innovative Start-ups.
"The students would also have an opportunity of practical experiences of building Smart Grid and Smart City applications using the Ecolibrium platform, thus training them to be industry ready for building a truly Smart and Digital India and World. The motto of the network would be "Being smart by learning to be sustainable'," the statement said.
"Campuses are where talent is incubated, minds are moulded, actions are forged and targets are prioritized. Therefore college campuses are the places to mainstream sustainable development in the career development of the aspiring youth," said TERRE chairman Rajendra Shende, a former director of the UNEP, adding: "In a way, it is a Start-up of Start-ups to achieve SDGs," he added.
Campuses wishing to participate in the network should contact TERRE Policy Centre (www.terrepolicycentre.com/ 020-24441537.