A Climate Entrepreneurs Perspective on Solving Climate Change

Fossils will finish. Of course, they will. It doesn’t need IQ to understand that. However, once we do accept it, the overwhelming nature of the problem to be solved can push us into the closet of inaction. Add to it the fact that we have already begun to experience the effects of Climate Change across the globe.

Facing two of the biggest challenges that we will face as a civilisation- (End of fossils and Climate Change), this is the ‘best time to be’ for a social entrepreneur or, if we may now call it, a Climate Entrepreneur. Evolving solutions so that we can navigate our way out of this peacefully.

Developing Vaayu, which can make energy from your food waste right inside your house, has not just been an attempt towards solving the problem, but it has been our university for understanding the problem too.

What is Vaayu?

Vaayu is a straightforward and compact biogas solution that converts food waste generated in your house into cooking gas. It is entirely driven by biology, requires zero electricity and does not make any noise. Most importantly, it brings the power into the hands of the common person (you and me) to solve Climate Change. It is our lifestyles (of billions of people) that cumulatively are causing the problem, so our approach is to take the solution to billions of people.

To date, we have made about 250 installations. Through this, we have evolved our solution through the rich feedback we received from the users. Now with confidence, we have set ourselves a high-impact target. We are working in mission mode to convert 200 tons/day of food waste into energy through Vaayu till 2025 through people participation. This will replace 2 lac cylinders of LPG annually and offset 11,500 tons of Fossil CO2 emissions annually.

We see that within a decade, we can solve our food waste problem once and for all. But in the process, millions of people would get empowered with the knowledge of making energy from biomass. This knowledge will be critical when the intensity of the problems begins to increase.

Importance of Biology driven solutions

The conversation about solving for energy is almost entirely centred around the technology of windmills and solar panels. However, these solutions are all inorganic ways of capturing energy. Therefore, there is no possibility of symbiosis with the living world. Biomass solutions are based on biological or photosynthetic capture of solar energy. These too will have to be implemented with care, yet they inherently have the capacity to symbiotically coexist. There is another advantage of this. It helps us as users to align with the natural limits. It helps us to change ourselves and align with the natural world. With Vaayu, we are trying to bring biology-driven solutions into the mainstream.

Unique opportunity for Social Justice

With Vaayu, we saw a rare opportunity to improve the lives of sanitation workers. Sadly, even today, waste is managed by human beings like you and me; they barely make ends meet despite performing a critical function. They are treated with disrespect as if it was their job to manage waste created by others. If we can skill these workers in operating Vaayu, they could earn the value of the energy they can provide. This could increase their earnings by ten times. Ensure waste is managed at source and a dignified living to sanitation workers who become green energy suppliers.

In Conclusion

As climate action becomes imperative, small changes made by many people will create a significant cumulative impact. Collaboration and learning to make these many small changes in our lifestyles are the way ahead. It is time we play our small part to right a wrong that our small actions have created to this planet! True climate action will be financed by ordinary people by paying for solutions that will help them change and take climate action!

Guest Author:

Priyadarshan Sahasrabuddhe

After graduating from IIT Bombay with a dual degree in Mech Engineering, he received a Fellowship to work on problems of social relevance. His ideas of building a social enterprise are largely influenced by Drs Rani and Abhay Bang, who runs an initiative for youth called Nirman. While Vaayu initially began just as a project to manage his waste, Priyadarshan had no idea it would become his University of Sustainable Living.

Vaayu opened up the mystery of the living world and the play of life around the energy of the sun. His constant endeavour is to be the change that you wish to see in the world. Since 2019, LPG is off the list of fossil fuels he uses. And since then, yearly, around 3 tons of food waste is managed in his home. He considers this as just the first step. Running a Cafe entirely on Vaayu, growing his food, and developing a drainage-free water management system are the ideas he is working on currently.

Edited By: Prerna Deep