by Father Renold Lemos for BISMumbai

Don Bosco Campus Borivali is celebrating 50 golden years of the Don Bosco School and Junior College, with active and gradual transition to renewable energy. With more focussed participation in all environmental-friendly campaigns, green events, and with renewed commitment to build up a new generation of environmentally committed citizen-leaders, one of the major initiatives is the 'rooftop solar-panelling' venture. 

Principal-Father Flovi D’Souza remarks, "This year we are completing 50 glorious years in the field of education and one of the greatest concerns we have had as educators, and in education, is to make students aware of the great environment crisis. In order to keep our campus environmental friendly, besides many other projects, we carried out this project of installing 64 KV rooftop solar panels. We took this up as a line of action, paying heed to the request made by MumbaiSalesians' Provincial and Convenor Don Bosco Green Alliance, Father Savio Silveira, in his official circular dated 01 September 2020, to make a gradual transition to renewable energy.

Prior to the actual installation of the solar panels, various calculations were worked out, taking into consideration the appliances, gadgets and machinery that need to be powered, as also an exhaustive analysis of the electricity-needs of the building, the total rate of consumption, and so forth, were studied. The power from the solar panels is expected to power the entire campus comprising of the school, church and the playground.

The MumbaiSalesians at Don Bosco Borivali feel that rooftop solar installation will go a long way in considerably reducing the amount payable by way of electricity bills. This will reduce the electricity-dependency from the grid thereby saving not only on energy costs, but also the way ahead in reducing carbon footprint and furthering the cause of combating climate emergency.