But Professor Chetan Singh Solanki of IIT Mumbai has made that incredible feat possible. He found out that if this country of 130 million people stops ironing clothes for a day, how much coal burning will be saved? How much pollution will be reduced?
The answer is, India burns 2.5 lakh kilograms of coal every day just for ironing clothes!
Prof. Solanki is called ‘Solar Man of India’. Because, he has consistently advocated for renewable energy. He showed how using renewable energy can save energy and reduce carbon emissions.
According to Solanki, electric irons are usually 500 watts to 2000 watts. Now a 2000-watt electric iron consumes 0.5 kWh of electricity even if it is run for a minimum of 15 minutes per day. This results in a monthly electricity consumption of 15 kWh per month.
Professor Solankir says, a man wears a shirt and a pair of pants. Now it takes 5-7 minutes to iron a piece of cloth. This results in 200 grams of carbon emissions. In other words, ironing alone emits 250 million grams of carbon a day.
Professor Chetan Solanki of IIT Mumbai has found out how much coal can be saved by turning off the clothes iron for a day.—File image.
He further added that most of the electricity in India comes from burning coal. 1 kg of carbon-dioxide is emitted as a result of the production of one unit of electricity. As a result, 250 million units of electricity will be saved if the clothes iron is stopped for one day.
That’s why Professor Solanki wants, if India takes this challenge for just one day i.e. can stop ironing clothes for one day. Solanki sees this challenge as ‘Climate Correction Day Challenge’.
Through this challenge, Prof. Solanki’s ‘Swaraj Foundation’ presents a new challenge to citizens on a monthly basis. Which may be very small tasks. But all those actions have lasting effects on the environment.
Solanki also explained why this initiative. In his words, “every day we are somehow responsible for climate change. But there is only one day of the year like Earth Day or Environment Day to promote environment awareness. But to raise environmental awareness on a larger scale and consistently, we bring new challenges on the first Wednesday of every month, which is easy to do. But through that it is possible to create environmental awareness.”