Beaconhouse Group, Pakistan’s largest network of private educational institutions and a host of diverse businesses, is successfully running 40 of the network’s facilities on solar energy. Students of 26 Beaconhouse campuses that have been installed with solar panels also conducted research projects on solar energy’s impact on reducing harmful air pollution, use of non-renewable energy, and cutting electricity costs.
The grade 8 student research projects explored significant controllable factors that improve the performance of photovoltaic panels, and saw participation from approximately 1,800 students. This announcement commemorates International Earth Day 2022, aimed at raising awareness on protecting the planet, reducing our carbon footprint, and adopting sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices.
Installed by Beacon Energy Ltd. (BEL), a venture of the Beaconhouse Group creating renewable energy sources, the solar panels installed at schools and other buildings under Beaconhouse have altogether achieved a carbon offset of 3,083 Tonnes in the past two years. This significant reduction in carbon emissions is equivalent to the impact created by a plantation of more than 6,200 trees.
As commented by Nassir Kasuri, Executive Director at Beaconhouse, and Chief Executive Officer of BEL, ”Coupled with rapid population growth and urbanisation, Pakistan’s per capita CO2 emissions stood at 1.06 trillion[1] in 2020, which has been an exponential increase as compared to 20 years ago. Already in the top ten2 of most impacted countries by climate change, it is imperative that Pakistan adopts an approach that balances sustainability with the needs of our rapidly increasing population. At Beaconhouse, as a socially responsible organisation, we take mitigating the impacts of climate change as a top priority and are constantly implementing sustainable practices and policies to reduce our carbon footprint in every day operations.”
To limit the use of non-renewable energy, BEL is working towards increasing the use of photovoltaic solar panels in Pakistan’s energy mix, which is a novel technology with a low unit cost and a very low carbon footprint.
With the installation of these solar panels across multiple institutions of Beaconhouse network, the organization is becoming a catalyst for positive change while investing in sustainable and responsible business practices.
Every year over 190 countries and 1 billion individuals across the world celebrate the Earth Day on April 22nd, to provide a voice to emerging environmental consciousness and highlight planet conservation concerns.
[1] https://ourworldindata.org/co2/country/pakistan
2 https://www.germanwatch.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Climate%20Risk%20Index%202021_2.pdf
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