The basic necessities of a human being are food, clothing and shelter. Human beings depend on water, gas and electricity to live a comfortable life. Regarded as luxury at one time, gas, water and electricity are basic necessities of human beings across the world. On the contrary, the human race is facing acute shortage of these essential commodities.
In the backdrop of all this, Coimbatore-based, Sreedhran shows people how to be self dependent. This resident of Saibaba colony, who is a school dropout says that he does not need any help from government to fulfil his needs of water, electricity and gas. Instead he produces his own resources rather than depending on the government for these resources. Moreover he even sells the excess electricity he produces to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).
Having called it quits from school in class eight, Sreedhran was involved in the family-owned diary business. It was the interest that he had in electricity generation that he switched towards learning about solar power.
Electricity Generation
He started to reduce his house hold expenses with conservation and interest as his guiding principles. He started with the solar power generation. There was a scarcity for electricity in Tamil Nadu during the 2007-2009 period.
During the period when the businesses were operating at loss Sreedharan installed solar panels in his home to generate electricity. Tamil Nadu government announced the plan of purchasing the electricity that is generated in homes in 2012. This plan was implemented by the electricity board in 2014.
Sreedharan shares with us that from this time on he has been providing about 350 to 450 units of electricity to the grid every month. He also admits that it is not easy for a middle class family to provide electricity to the government. However, this city-based man showed people that if they calculate and use electricity several units of electricity can be saved.
A cautious user of natural resources, Sreedharan shares that he collects rain water and the same is consumed in his home after it is filtered.
Bio-gas
As part of his efforts to be self reliant Sreedharan started to produce bio-gas. He shares with us that he produces gas from vegetable waste, cow dung and other dairy products. When speaking about the bio-gas production he said, “We all know that the cost of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is increasing due to the demand. Also we get a refill LPG cylinder only after 40 days from the booking date. This big gap between demand and supply, prompted me to work on an alternative. Thus, I came up with an initiative to produce bio-gas.”
“Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) helped me to learn the methods of producing bio-gas. I also made enquiries with many experts about the bio-gas production. I bought the required equipments from Kanyakumari and Trivandrum. I started to collect the waste from the kitchen like left overs, vegetable waste, fruits peels which we used to throw away and put them in a large tank. When they start to decompose they are consumed by bacteria and during the process we get methane as a by-product which is an inflammable gas and can be used fuel for the gas stoves.”
“As my efforts have been successful I am using the biogas produced by me for cooking in my home since 2010. Many college students have learned the technology from me and also I am conducting workshops and training programmes at various colleges on the methods of bio-gas production. When we start using the resources that are available in an effective manner the government will have to spend less on subsidy for the people who can afford it. Instead the government can pass on these subsidies to the needy.”
“My research is an on-going process. I am saddened by the fact that several research projects have stopped due to lack of funds. I have helped more than 40 people to install bio-gas at their home. I am doing this as I consider this my duty and this is my way of giving back to the society. I am also working on creating awareness about sustainable living among people. I am ready to lend a helping hand to people who are interested in installing their own bio-gas plant or those who need any help regarding the biogas production.”
The water wars and conflicts due to electricity sharing with our neighbouring states seem to have no end. We are heading towards a future where we will have to deal with shortage of LPG gas cylinders too.
Future generations will benefit from the renewable energy sources as this. If Tamil Nadu government encourages people like Sreedharan it will help to reduce the dependence on LPG as an electricity source.
Sreedharan can be contacted at 9942455151