This is perhaps the first and only housing society in the country, that has taken a realistic approach towards the Green Cover by installing the Rainwater harvesting, waste water treatment plant, LED bulbs and now the Solar Panels. According to the sources, the installation of solar panel alone saves them Rs. 2 lakh per month.
According to the sources, an investment incurred to the 20 storey residential complex known as Raheja Eternity for the installation of the solar panels is around Rs. 35 lakh and the has around 230 families residing in it. The residents of the Raheja Eternity complex are the most concerned citizens and always been on a forefront of the development.
According to the sources, the residents of a housing complex in Kandivali did not leave any stone unturned in reducing their carbon footprint. Be it rainwater harvesting, use of solar power, installation of LED bulbs, getting waste water treatment plants or maintaining a green cover, the 230 families residing in Raheja Eternity have gone all out to develop a sustainable living environment.
The residents of the Raheja Eternity in Kandivali came together and squeezed out whooping Rs. 35 lakh to install the 65KV Solar System on the rooftop of their complex, which according to them has helped in reducing a substantial amount of electricity consumption, and thus saving lakhs of rupees.
According to the sources, The residents of the complex had collected Rs35 lakh to install a 65kW rooftop solar system to mark World Environment Day in June. Their energy conservation efforts, however, started before this. They replaced all regular lights in the building’s common areas with energy-efficient LED bulbs.
Based on the information provided by the residents of the complex, the 211-panel solar system generated between 260-280 units per day. “But after we replaced all our society tube lights with around 650 LED bulbs, we have reduced our unit consumption substantially. Though the bulbs cost us around Rs80,000, it was worth it,” said Vishal Gharat, a resident of the society and its alternative energy coordinator.
The Raheja Eternity housing complex, which pulls around 800 plus units per day from the electricity grids, has now gone down to 337 units per day which save them around Rs. 2.2 lakh monthly on the electricity bills. “The maintenance (charges paid by each family) has also reduced by three times,” Gharat said.
Beside the above latest development the building complex also have their own Rainwater Harvesting, and Waste Water Management plants in the place which further reduces the reliance on the public water supply. “The treated water that we get is used in washrooms and helps us save a sizeable quantity of clean water,” said Sahu.
According to the sources, the residents of the society have recently installed the water saving nozzles to save more water per day. Based on the output given by the residents of the society, the installation of nozzles saves 3 to 8 liter water per minute. Most of the water wastage is done while doing the hand wash or brushing.
They also nurturing 20 mango saplings in their lawn and terrace. “Once they grow to the desired size, we will plant these saplings in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. We want to live in a place that is better than it was when we got it,” said Ashish Shrivastava, another resident of the society.
The Future Plans of the Society
The Raheja Eternal society residents have many more aspirations which will help in making them one of the most modern and eco-friendly societies in India. According to the sources, the society is making the plans of installing the sensor system their complex wherein the lights will switch on only when someone passes through the sensors, and according to them, this move will enhance the life span of the bulbs by nine times.
Besides, they are also planning to set up two automated composting machines in their complex, which will help in converting kitchen waste into compost in just three days. “Our aim is to tap and exploit all possible areas which have an environmental impact. If we wish to become the role model of something good, we might as well do it perfectly,” said Ajay Singh Thakur, secretary of the housing society.
According to the local municipal ward officer, the residents of Raheja Eternity have set up an example for other housing societies in the country. Sahebrao Gaikwad, assistant commissioner, southward, said, “Once the society took these initiatives, within months we came to know that other societies too took up similar projects and more wanted to join the green wave. The corporation is not worried about at least one area knowing that they will take care of all the aspects of the environment.”
Perhaps the benchmark set by the Raheja Eternity residents will result in setting up a trend amongst the other housing societies in India and if that happens, then we can surely say that “MERA DESH BADAL RAHA HAI” (My Country is changing)
SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES | SMARTCITY | RWLWATER | MAHALAXMI
