Hello. This is Sawamura.
Today I would like to introduce one student-led organization in Tokyo Tech, which is call IDAcademy (IDA) and IDA’s Nepal bio-char project.
IDAcademy is a non-profit student-led organization that aims to contribute to society through technology. Abe sensei is a adviser of this club and I’m one of the members.
IDA has implemented multiple projects in various countries, including the development of affordable, functional prosthetic legs for people in developing countries, and robot contests and workshops for Fukushima’s elementary school children. Here is an URL of the IDA website.http://idacademytokyotech.org/index.html
Nepal Bio-char project is one of the projects implemented by IDA bio-char project team. The project aims to establish a locally suitable bio-char production method and its diffusion in order to solve two problems: deforestation and household indoor air pollution from firewood. Currently, the team has seven members from Japan, Nepal, Indonesia, and Thailand, who range from first-year bachelor’s student to first-year doctoral students as written below.
IDA bio-char project team members.
- Keshav Raj Pokhrel (M2, Nepal)
- Rajali Maharjan (D2, Nepal)
- Shota Kurobe (M1, Japan)
- Supatat Pongpattanayok (B2, Thailand)
- Vicka Kharisma (D2, Indonesia)
- Yusuf Fadian (M2, Indonesia)
- Shinnosuke Sawamura (M2, Japan)
Last year, we could win the Coca-Cola Foundation environmental education award. For the past 23 years, the award has been given to organizations doing outstanding work in environmental education or supporting new projects that contribute to environmental protection or education.
We visited Nepal for about two weeks in the summer of 2016. We conducted experiments on bio-char production in the rural village and surveys to relevant governmental organizations, NGOs, and households. Finally, we organized a workshop to provide information regarding the benefits of bio-char over traditional fuel wood, and demonstrated the process of bio-char production utilizing locally available bio-waste. The workshop boasted a huge number of female participants. Based on the result of these experiments and surveys, we will continue improving our activities for the welfare of society.
Workshop on bio-char production
東工大ニュース｜東京工業大学
http://www.titech.ac.jp/news/2017/037515.html
ニュースリリース|公益財団法人 コカ・コーラ教育・環境財団