Carbon Free Future
On this day in 2008, Zero Emissions Day was established in Nova Scotia, Canada. The idea was to give the world a break from fossil fuels and to raise awareness about the harm caused by carbon emissions. This encompasses greenhouse gasses, polluting substances, microparticles, and other things that are harming our planet. The importance of Zero Emissions Day is paramount because it aims to encourage the use of renewable energy sources, as opposed to finite fossil fuels.
There are many ways one can celebrate this day. Here are some tips on how to help planet Earth this Zero Emissions Day:
- One can start by minimizing or eliminating the use of electricity generated by fossil fuels.
- Learning the 5 R’s: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and remove.
Refuse: Avoid single-use plastics and paper products, buy only things you really need.
Reduce: Go car-free for the day and walk or cycle rather wherever possible.
Reuse: Try avoiding single-use plastic and paper products and repair existing items.
Recycle: You can recycle almost all products — collect your waste and take a trip to the recycling center.
Remove: Using the carbon footprint tool on the internet, you can calculate your daily emissions and remove them from the air.
This day also serves as the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the amounts of fossil fuels that are used worldwide every single day and share information about how each and every one of us could minimize our carbon footprint in the long run. This year on ‘Zero Emissions Day’, Sangam Team plans to highlight one such startup that has come up with an innovation that functions without the use of fossil fuels. ‘aQysta’ from our maiden cohort of the Emerging India Acceleration Program develops high-tech solutions and implements them for the underprivileged people of the world. aQysta envisions sustainable technologies that can revolutionize agriculture thus enhancing the food security in the world.
They have developed the hydro-powered irrigation pumps, ‘Barsha Pump’ and ‘HyPump’, that operate without any fuel or electricity and run on the energy of the flowing water. Our readers would be amazed to know that with aQysta’s water-powered pumps, smallholder farmers are able to save up to 70% on their irrigation cost, which comes with zero negative impact on the planet.
‘aQysta’ which was founded in the Netherlands has developed a portfolio of innovative hydro-powered pumps ranging from individual products for smallholder farmers to large pumping systems at the community scale. Those products can be installed in any source of flowing water and cover a broad range of pumping heights and areas. Over the past years, they have built a strong “glocal” presence, with R&D in the Netherlands, manufacturing in India, and sales and implementation offices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For its efforts, aQysta has been awarded by several international organizations. Their flagship product “Barsha Pump” is an award-winning innovative pump, which has been rolled out in various countries worldwide in a short period of time. Their engaging work has provided them an early success and has enabled them to gain customer feedback, technical validation in diverse geographies, as well as market opportunity in diverse socio-economic conditions. They use their investments to strengthen farmer prosperity in Nepal, India, Malawi, Indonesia, and Colombia. The world definately needs more such innovations to keep our present and future safe!
Sangam Team is excited to announce that we have come up with a series of sessions with our Alumni — ‘Alumni Meet Series’ to inspire young innovators who really want to provide the world with solutions that can be both economical and sustainable. We are happy to share with our readers that Mr. Pratap Thapa who is the Co-Founder of ‘aQysta’ will be joining us as the speaker for the first session. If you are an innovator who is looking to learn from such brilliant minds, then do join us for the first session happening on the 24th of September, 4:30–5:15 PM IST. Register here https://bit.ly/2VP2Q1K for the event and to know more about us visit our website https://www.aic-sangam.org/.
The world needs to unite to tackle climate change! Let’s see what happens in COP26 this year!
Blog Credits: Shikhita Gupta
