ENECON 2019
Date of the event: 14th, September 2019
Location: SIIB, Pune
Number of people attended: 200-250
On this day, Enecon which is a flagship event of SIIB Energy and Environment department of SIIB Pune was organized. The theme for this year’s event was “Embrace. Nurture. Deliver.” The theme was based on the current global issues which involve the transition towards EV’s and trends related to circular economy. The conclave saw a huge participation from industry experts as well as students and faculty across various colleges in Pune.
Illustrious business personnel, Mr. Awadesh Jha, Vice President, Fortum India; Mr. Prashant Shingare, Director, Vertiv; Mr. Ashwin Kak, Associate Director, AB InBev India and Mr. Yasir Ahmad, Partner, PwC India were the honourable speakers for the occasion. The occasion started with the lighting of the light and the felicitation by our Director, Dr. Asmita Chitnis. It was followed by the release of fifth edition of Equilibria, the annual newsletter of Department of Energy and Environment.
Mr. Awadesh Jha shared his views on trends and transitions of electric vehicles and further, diminishing the myths on them. He started by portraying a timeline of the evolution of mobility from horse carriages to modern day battery operated vehicles. Further, he stressed on some important myths related to EV’s and compared the efficiency of modern day vehicles to Internal Combustion Engine vehicles. All the more, the session was very much intriguing and it proved to be a fruitful lesson for our batch.
Mr. Prashant Shingare focused on the various aspects relating to the prosumers (in industry language, meaning producers and consumers). He sequenced his speech into the renewable energy grid challenges and its solutions. With regard to the renewable energy challenges-reasons for detrition in power quality like intermittent nature of supply, variable and non-linear loads and grid faults were the major concerns. Solutions to the grid challenges which are installed in countries like China, Japan, Italy and US were given insights on. Economically viable solutions like storage of electricity during the non-peak hours was also discussed.
Mr. Ashwin Kak initiated his speech with the tagline ‘INNOVATION, THE FUTURE’. He emphasized on the importance of introducing and developing new ideas, in order to curb the existing mess. Circular packaging involving processes to increase cullet percentage and recycling of products is a major component in extended producer responsibility. He also concentrated on the EPR desire hierarchy to convey that the EPR doesn’t stop at the product life cycle.
Mr. Yasir Ahmad addressed the major issues of environmental damage in the modern-day world, and how EPR proves to be as one of the solutions for coping up with this damage. He mentioned some interesting examples of how waste can be converted to useful raw materials which can be further utilized to manufacture final end products. Quoting the example of Bangladesh, where PET bottles plastic waste was very efficiently utilized to manufacture rayon fibers and further used to manufacture polyester, was a very strong example on how a country can make best out of its waste and increase its economy.
The participants had an extremely positive reaction towards the conference as was obvious from the drawing in Q&A session with the business stalwarts. Summing everything up in vote of thanks by Mr. Saravan Krishnamurthy, the convener of ENECON 2019 explained how the audience was inspired to think optimistically towards the issue of climate change, sustainability and use of clean energy and promised to come again next year with a new thought-provoking issue.
