Pune: Housing society shows the way, saves almost Rs one lakh in power bill

Nearly two months ago, the managing committee of Olive Housing Society in Dattanagar, Ambegaon, installed a 50 KW solar power panel in their society. The society’s electricity bill, which earlier ranged between Rs 90,000 to Rs 1 lakh, came down to Rs 1,920. The newly-installed solar panel provides power for elevators, parking lights, water pumps, swimming pool filtration pump and borewell pump.

The society invested Rs 31 lakh on the installation of the solar panel. “It is a good investment for long-term benefits and saving. It is good for the environment and leaves no carbon footprints. No one in the society objected to the decision. We have taken a loan for this and our payout period is four years. The way we are saving on our electricity bills, we will be in a position to pay back the loan much sooner,” said Ravindra Akolkar, chairman of the society.

Akolkar added that members of the society have been trying to create awareness among other housing societies, so that more societies adopt the environment-friendly initiative. “In fact, some societies have approached us to understand the procedure, investment etc,” said Akolkar.

This is not the first environment-friendly initiative taken up by residents of the society. In the last five years, nearly 600 trees have been planted in the society premises, and the wet waste generated by it is treated through vermi-composting.

Source:indianexpress