Roorkee: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have undertaken a project to generate low-cost energy from forest bio residue. The project titled, “Socio-Economic Value Creation through Forest Bio Residue Energy Generation in Alignment with the UNs SDGs” is headed by professors, Vinay Sharma and Rajat Agrawal. The IIT Roorkee project aims to develop a complementary source of affordable energy generation from the forest bio waste residue and to create sustainable management practices of indigenous green technologies in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand state.

According to a statement from IIT Roorkee, the research is funded by the National Mission on Himalayan Studies under the Union environment and forests ministry. Under the project, over 1000 quintals of pine needles were collected from 100 acres of forest and were crushed and processed and developed in the laboratories of IIT Roorkee and UPES, Dehradun. IIT Roorkee also conducted training, workshops and group discussions between experts and locals in the villages to help beneficiaries to learn about the initiative and to resolve their queries regarding the installation of machines and safety.

"The project aims to solve the problem of destructive fire to constructively convert it into low-cost energy. It is a significant stage of the project where stakeholders are showing interest and coming forward to adopt the whole concept," said Sharma. Talking about the journey, Agrawal said, "When the project was being conceived a complete value chain was considered in relation to the conversion of pine needles via technology interventions to a low-cost energy product where selected villagers were involved in particular regions of Uttarakhand, Chopda, and Shyaamkhet."

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