SustainEarth - A Clean-Tech Startup Providing Low-Cost Biogas Plant For Household Use In Rural Communities

In today's world where everybody is thinking about themselves, there’s an organization which is thinking about others. SustainEarth is a Chennai based startup which converts animal waste into clean fuel solutions by integrating issues of energy and livelihood.

There are many rural areas in India where electricity is still a farfetched dream and modern cooking fuels such as PNG and LPG are either very expensive or completely inaccessible. Under such circumstances, Biogas Technology is the only hope and SustainEarth is working to provide these areas with just that.

The organization which went live in September, 2013 has a mission to provide solutions for the problems in energy access in rural areas. In order to fulfill its mission, the organization is developing Biogas applications and combining them with innovative business models so as to make them more affordable and accessible for the rural population.

The organization has a core team of three members which includes its co-founder and CEO Piyush Sohani, co-founder and Director of Operation Koushik Yanamandram and co-founder and Chief Technologist Shankar Ramakrishnan. Though the organization went live in 2013, it was envisaged back in 2012 when the three founders had visited various rural parts of India. During their visits they realized that these areas have acute scarcity and access of clean cooking fuel and electricity. Instead of feeling bad about the situation, the three of them decided to do some action and came up with SustainEarth.

The organization which was set up under Companies Act of 1956 has support from Villgro Innovation Foundation, which is a not for profit organization based in IIT Madras research park. Villgro is providing support to SustainEarth through its entrepreneur in residence program.

The Chennai based startup currently has its eyes set on achieving its mission of providing Biogas technology to all needful rural areas. The organization has already been successful in completing a few pilot projects in some areas of Andhra Pradesh and is constantly working towards increasing its reach and impact.

SustainEarth innovatively addresses issues of livelihood and clean energy in rural India, with a pilot in South India and potential to scale across the country. With almost 1.5 lakh dairy animals in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, animal waste will be converted into clean biogas fuel using a portable, easy to install and use system.

[caption id="attachment_95384" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Sustainearth's Biogas plant Sustainearth's Biogas plant in Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh which gives 2 hours clean cooking gas from food waste [/caption]

The startup builds user-friendly, economical and reliable biogas plants in rural areas. The base of operation is currently in and around Andhra Pradesh but the organization has future plans of expanding to the whole of India. The startup's biogas system is a low cost robust system that converts animal waste into clean cooking fuel. The system is extremely user friendly as it is very easy to install it and operate. The system is extremely portable, occupies less space and comes with an assurance of product support from SustainEarth.

About 144 million Indian households (represents 88% of total rural households) do not have access to clean cooking fuel. ​Main cooking fuels used are firewood, crop residues and cowdung cakes. Traditional cookstoves used mostly with little or no ventilation causes Household Air Pollution (HAP). As per WHO estimates HAP causes about 1 million annual deaths in India alone. Apart from this, millions are suffering from cancer, pneumonia, heart and lung diseases, blindness and burns.

whereas, A Biogas plant requires dung from 2-3 cattles to produces sufficient clean cooking gas for a family of 5. SustainEarth Energy is dedicated to solve challenges in rural energy access and developing Biogas applications and combining with innovative business models to make it more affordable for India's rural consumers.

In today's world where everyone is busy and focused on themselves, this organization is a welcome change.
Advertisements

Post a Comment

أحدث أقدم
Like this content? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get latest updates.