Graduation ceremony for passed out students of Post Graduate Diploma in Environment Management (PGDEM) and Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Industrial Biotechnology (PGDAIB) was organized on 1st February 2010. The function was presided over by Prof. Smita. S. Lele, Head, Food Engineering and Technology Department. Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. Welcome address was delivered by Dr. Devayani Savant. She informed about different activities of SIES IIEM in academics, research and development in the areas environment management and biotechnology. Dr V. Ramachandhran in his address informed about the importance of good infrastructure, faculty and curriculum in the overall success of courses at SIES IIEM. Dr. Lele in her lecture emphasized on the role of physical, emotional and spiritual activities in the overall personality development of students. Mr. Sagar Dumbre and Ms. Leena Rodrigues got trophy for getting first position in PGDEM and PGDAIB courses, respectively. The event was conducted by Ms. Amruta Diwan and ended with the vote of thanks from Dr. Seema Mishra.

A two day event entitled, “Emerging Trends in Environmental Biotechnology (ENBIOT)” 09 was organized by SIES Indian Institute of Environment Management on 2nd and 3rd of December 2009. Eminent professors, scientist and entrepreneurs had delivered lectures on theme areas. The event was inaugurated by Prof. C. S. Purushotthaman, Director SIES –School of Packaging and Prof. S. F. D’Souza, Associate Director, BARC. Presidential address was delivered by Prof. C.S. Purushotthaman on ‘Science, technology and role of educational institutions’ topic. Keynote lecture was delivered by    Dr. S. F. D’Souza on ‘Applications of plants and microbes for the remediation and monitoring of environmental pollutants’.

Dr. Sharad Kale, Sr. Scientist Officer, BARC and Dr. S. S. Barve, HOD, Vaze Kelkar College covered different aspects of ‘Nanobiotechnology and its applications’ in their respective presentations. Post lunch session was started with the talk on ‘Optical microscopy for nanobiotechnology’ by Dr. Prasad Karnik, Application Specialist, Labindia. He emphasized on Fluorescence microscopy. The event proceeded with a presentation on ‘Biological effluent treatment’ by Prof. S.S.Lele (UICT). She explained the various design aspects of bioreactors, applications and the challenges involved. The concluding talk of the first day was by Prof. B.B. Sharma, Principal, Vaze Kelkar College who gave an inspirational talk on ‘Recent trends in Environmental Biotechnology’ giving more emphasis on Bioremediation and its application.

The second day commenced with a talk by Prof. Vidyadhar Walawalkar, M.D, Envirovigil, on ‘Biomedical waste treatment’ in which he included case studies and common methods of disposal of biomedical wastes. ‘Role of Biopesticides in Sustainable Agriculture’ was explained by Dr.Susanta Kundu, GM, Excel Corp Care Ltd. The next speaker for the day Dr. Archana Kale, Research Officer, RCF, informed the recent advances of RCF in Biotechnology and also focused on Biofertilizers. Dr.Vijay Mendhulkar, Professor, Institute of Science, gave an enthralling talk on ‘In vitro techniques and secondary metabolites’. Dr. M. Pandya, Jai Hind College gave an informative talk on ‘Bioaugmentation Technology for industrial waste water’. The next talk was presented by Dr. S. H. Purohit, Jai Hind College on ‘Environmental Legislations’ which was very interesting and informative. The concluding session was chaired by Prof. D. A. Bhiwgade, HOD, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Department, Dr. D. Y. Patil University and Prof. H. V. Jadhav, Former I/C Principal, Veer Wajekar College, Phund, Uran. Finally, Prof. D. A. Bhiwgade, HOD, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Department, Dr. D. Y. Patil University, concluded the 2 day regional seminar ENBIOT -09 with his inspiring words.

The debate competition held for the topic, Is Sustainable Development truly sustainable? , proved to be an interesting and brainstorming session for the participants, audience and the judges. The participant teams had a healthy discussion on the topic covering the issues like the economics of sustainable development, government regulations, noteworthy examples, the shortcomings and the loopholes in the concept, green jobs, with the debate mostly revolving around the renewable energy issue. The GAGAN team comprising Manali, Shailesh and Shivangi was the winner for the debate competition for their team co-ordination, presentation accompanied with facts and better convincing skills. The session was very well co-ordinated by the student co-coordinators (Pooja Sharma, Sagar Shinde and Ashonal Pereira) under the guidance of Ms.Rupali.Zele.

Compiled by-
          Shruti Kalgikar 
    Mahalaxmi Krishnan
Sagar Shinde

Inter- group quiz Competition was organized by SIES IIEM on 10th September 2009 among ‘Agni, Dhara, Gagan, Neer and Pawan’ groups under the coordination of Ms. Jyoti Koliyar. The programme was hosted by Ms. Payal Sachade. Group Gagan comprising of Manali, Shailesh, Deepali and Neha was the winner.

Compiled by-
Shruti Kalgikar
Mahalaxmi Krishnan

SIES- IIEM conducted a talk on ‘Role of Solar Energy in Industrial Application’ by Sri. Shyam N. Pathak, Energy Consultant, Clique Developments Pvt. Ltd. at GST auditorium on 2nd September, 2009. He discussed about the “Arun Solar Concentrator’ for the generation of heat energy for industrial application. It is a paraboloid dish with freshnal reflectors and cavity receiver at point focus. This can be integrated to industrial process heat application with storage facility for continuous application. It has opened up the possibilities of saving significant proportion of liquid or gaseous fuels or electricity used in this process. This technology is successfully functioning at Mahananda Dairy, Latur and Chitle Brothers, Sangli, Maharashtra.

A workshop on “Opportunities for business in carbon constrained economy” was held on January 28th, 2008, at South Indian Education Society Campus, Nerul, organized by  SIES Institute of Environment Management and Care Sustainability. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr.Ram Babu, Managing Director, Cantor CO2e. 

Dr. Ram Babu spoke about the perils of global climate change, importance of Kyoto protocol and changes after ratification of Kyoto protocol in phase I (2005 – 2008) and Phase II (2008-2012).

Inaugural Session Chaired by Dr. Ram Babu, Dr.(Mrs.) Suju George (Convenor), Prof. S. Ramanathan (Director, SIES - Indian Institute of Environment Management & Dr. M. M. Shaikh (Convenor)

The session also covered the scenario post 2012 when the Kyoto protocol regime expires and the scope of regulatory markets and voluntary markets in area of carbon economy.

The high capital costs are to some extent offset by CDM benefits. The CDM benefits have catalyzed implementation of innovative technologies (overcoming the technology risks) for the steel sector. All this has finally resulted in development of new projects resulting in overall sustainable development. He spoke about the implementation of CDM practices in JSW group which has pioneered Clean Development Mechanisms projects in India. JSW Steel Ltd was amongst the first companies to apply for Host Country approval. CDM practices had resulted in selection of high end, first of its kind innovative technologies like

• Transfer of energy efficient technologies.
• Development of ‘Waste Management’ techniques

• Environment friendly projects.
• Various innovative financing options
• Sustainable development.

He elaborated about the steps involved in CDM project cycle, barriers to CDM procedure and what could be the ways of overcoming these barriers and financing options and who are all the market players in CDM market including the buyers and sellers

Dr. Suju George the convener of the workshop presented her views about two case studies illustrating the development of carbon asset and its monetization. First case that of Bagasse based power generation’ in a sugar industry illustrates the development of a CDM project activity into a “carbon asset” and how it got monetized. The second case study illustrates with a carbon business model wherein proponent identifies an investor to project finance a ‘biomethanation of poultry waste to energy project’.

Mr. Asim kumar Jana, Head-Energy and   Carbon Services, TUV India Pvt.Ltd. spoke about GHG market and Validator’s role in validating the projects designed under the CDM regime. He briefly explained about the validation and verification process and the concept pf Carbon neutrality.

Mr. Nixon, Assistant General Manager, State Bank of India, spoke about how to achieve the low carbon economy. He explained that there would be a market for low carbon energy products of $ 500 billion per year by 2050 and why companies should go carbon neutral. He enlightened to the audience about the various investment opportunities through Investments in energy efficiency equipment producing companies and for Carbon Funds

Dr Kale, Scientific officer, BARC, spoke about the Nisargruna technology developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai has been implemented by several Municipal Councils in Maharashtra State. There are 19 functional plants at the moment with processing capacity of about 55 MT/day biodegradable wastes. The carbon credit proposal will take about 6 months and will involve an expenditure of about Rs. 18 lakhs approximately. The maximum carbon credit that would be possible at the end of one year will be Rs. 115 lakhs subject to an important condition that all the NISARGRUNA plants function to their fullest capacity. The proposal will be considered through a series of monitoring and regulatory procedures before approval.

The workshop was concluded by the technical session on New careers opportunities in Carbon Economy by Dr.Shirish Sangle Associate Professor, NITIE, Mumbai. The lecture covered about the business opportunities in carbon economy and how business should realign itself towards the achievement of triple bottom line of sustainable development and business and economics impact due to global climate change. During this period of re-alignment what are the corporate looking for them as environmental professional and how students can prepare themselves to take up such challenging roles to be taken up and there are various NGOs, Public-sectors and private sector undertaking looking out for young talents for such roles.

The workshop received an overwhelming response with 81 participants with participation from Students, teachers and industrial community.