The concept of green campus is fast catching up in the state, as well as across the country. A green campus is built on the principles of ecological sustainability. It encompasses everything from eco-friendly infrastructure and waste management to encouraging recycling, water conservation, use of solar energy and reduced resource consumption. To teach the youth the importance of maintaining ecological balance and ensuring sustainable development, environmentalists have been asking institutions to go green. The Telegraph turns spotlight on campuses — both educational and corporate — that stand out in this green endeavour

IIT Bhubaneswar

The green field campus of the premier institute has 5,000 plants, a 70-variety mango orchard, teak plantation around its boundary and medicinal and flowering trees along the avenues National Institute of Science and 
Technology, Berhampur The institute has partnered with SunMoksha, a clean technology solutions company, and has embarked on the path to develop a renewable energy living laboratory and build a campus that encompasses green solutions for all operations, including electricity, cooking and waste management. The campus is also replete with greenery. It has set up renewable energy solutions on the campus and is imparting sustainability training to both students and faculty. For the past several years, it has been conducting competitions for ideas in renewable energy solutions, and in the process, has developed a few prototypes on these ideas.

Mindtree

The software giant's Bhubaneswar campus is not just smart but green too. It uses digital technology effectively for efficient consumption of resources through sensors that span all areas. Unique construction methods have been used to make it an inspiring example of sustainability. The campus has been built using one million bricks created from the earth dug out of the ground when excavating the site. The bricks were made without using fire, ash and additional water. The entire construction has been done with overflow rainwater. Rainwater is harvested into a 14.7-million litres pond to make the campus largely water neutral. The living space is fitted with a passive cooling system that provides a constant flow of refreshing air in the building, avoiding the need for air conditioners.  

TCS

The software major's delivery centre at Kalinga Park in Bhubaneswar is designed to be India's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified IT campus. The US Green Building Council has designed the campus built on 45 acres. The design cuts down power consumption and its sophisticated building management systems have been installed to monitor, report and regulate energy expenditure. The energy modelling indicates an estimated 32 per cent reduction in power consumption.

What the PM said

Just building a huge campus is not enough. Students should plant as many trees as they can so that when their families come to visit them, they can proudly call it their green effort 
Narendra Modi  while inaugurating the Niser campus in Bhubaneswar on Feb. 7