Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

University of Madras plans to tap solar energy

MADURAI: The University of Madras has decided to switch over to solar power within a year in order to cut down its monthly electricity bill.

A one-time investment of Rs.3 crore was being made to purchase the solar equipment and install it in the university campus, said G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor.

He said here on Thursday that the university's monthly electricity bill was Rs.9 lakh. Hence the decision to tap solar energy was taken. Since electricity charge was a major component in the university's monthly expenditure, to overcome the problem, the university's Department of Energy had been asked to plan for solar energy.

The estimate for installing solar energy equipment had been obtained and the installation work would start soon. It would take a few months to complete the work and experts told us that the electricity bill would come down by around 75 per cent after opting for solar energy.

The Vice-Chancellor was in the city to participate in a seminar.

Global warming

Dr. Thiruvasagam stressed the need to understand the negative effects of climate change and global warming.

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy were the pragmatic solutions needed to tackle energy crisis in the future. “Turning sunlight into electricity must be the solution we have to think of. Cutting trees will be a disaster and global warming is one issue that cannot be ignored,” the Vice-Chancellor said.

K. P. Navaneethakrishnan, correspondent, M. Selvanayagam, Director, LIFE-Loyola College, and P. Rengan, Principal, were among those who spoke on the importance of promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

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