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April 21st – 22nd 2010: HSE, Sustainability and Earth Day
To recognize and celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd, PI faculty, students and staff, took part in a two day wealth of events organized by the WISE Program Students’ Council and the Environmental Club in conjunction with the Petroleum Institute’s Health, Safety and Environment Department.
The Petroleum Institute began celebrating Earth Day since 2009. Its purpose is to encourage awareness of, and appreciation for, our environment.
A wide range of activities were organized across the PI campus, including:
- launching PACT an individual carbon footprint estimation calculator
- student/faculty presentations of research on sustainability and renewable energy
- health checks
- an Earth Day Quiz and an ‘Earth Queen’ Competition
- a ‘Heroes of the UAE’ and Bu Tinah voting booth,
- launching of the Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign,
- a competition to build an oil rig from used newspapers and
- displays of models of sustainable villages from student course design projects
- and of ‘environmentally-friendly’ everyday objects like calculator and a clock that ran using water
Earth Day Opening and PACT (Personal Carbon Tracking Scheme)!
The Emirates Foundation-PI Project was officially launched on Earth day, April 22nd , 2010. The day began with opening remarks by Dr. Ohadi, PI’s provost and acting
president followed by the opening speech by Dr. Salim Al Dhahiri who represented H. E. Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water. The speech in its entirety is available on the HSE website. In summary, Dr. Salem said the ministry will continue to focus on controlling pollution, biodiversity conservation, sustainable water resources, integrated waste management, as well as issues related to climate change and reducing the environmental footprint. The project was introduced to the PI family by Dr. Clarence Rodrigues, PI’s HSE Manager, during his presentation on PI’s operational sustainability efforts. Dr. Rodrigues called on the PI family to sign up for PACT, a program developed in collaboration with WSP-Middle East for tracking one’s personal carbon footprint. It was made known that PI is the only university in the region to offer its employees and students this unique opportunity to measure individual carbon footprints. WSP – Middle East and PI HSE representatives were available for any assistance and clarification on the process. The booklet explaining the software was distributed. PACT and other details are available here.
Presentations
For the first time in the history of the Petroleum Institute, female students presented to a public audience on the main campus. The audience included dignitaries such as Dr. Salim Al Dhahiri (on behalf of the Minister of Environment) and the Vice Chairman of the Petroleum Institute Governing Board and ADCO General Manager, Mr. Abdel Munaam Al Kindy. Petroleum Institute senior management, faculty, students and staff also attended the student presentations.
Electrical Engineering students Tuka Al Hanai and Rehab Bani Hashim presented their joint research project entitled entitled ‘Study of a 900 W, Thin-film, Amorphous Silicon PV System in a Dusty Environment’. The project was part of the Department of Electrical Engineering’s Undergraduate Research Program, and it was aimed at understanding the potential and limitations of deploying thin-film, amorphous silicon Photovoltaic technology in the region. The PV system was set up on the rooftop of the Petroleum Institute’s Arzanah building and it was one of only two such systems in the country feeding into the national grid.
Electrical Engineering student Mr. Osama Ameel Anwar Al presented his research project titled “Smart Cleaning System for Solar Panels”.
Tuka, Rehab and Osama proved themselves to be confident and articulate in front of a large public audience, and both showed themselves to be more than capable of engaging their audiences with their excellent delivery skills.
Dr. Brajendra Mishra in his presentation on “SUSTAINABILITY through RECYCLING” explained how recycling and reuse of materials in all forms has the greatest impact on resource productivity. The presentation described how the recovery of metals and materials from secondary resources and industrial wastes is critical for the sustenance of the environment and economic growth of the materials industry.
Dr. Dhirajlal D. Radadiya, HSE Advisor, EHS Division – Supreme Petroleum Council, in his presentation entitled “H2S Safety Awareness”, used a revealing video of fatalities due to H2S to highlight the hazards of working in H2S environments.
On the evening of the 21st , the movie “Home” was served up with a BBQ dinner. The movie portrays the unprecedented growth of our species and the enormous demands the human race makes on the earth’s limited resources. It outlines the dramatic changes that have occurred across our planet due to wanton destruction and wasteful expenditure of resources. The movie is an eye opener in that it makes one aware of the environmental changes going on around the world and calls upon us all to act to reverse this alarming adverse trend.
Competitions and activities
The students also enjoyed an ‘Earth Queen’ competition, with the prize going to the student wearing the most appropriate ‘green’ outfit!
A quiz was also organised, and everyone who correctly answered questions won a prize. The questions all had an environmental focus and included, for example:
• How many times can paper be recycled?
• What does ‘EPA’ stand for?
At the suggestion of Khawla Al Manthari, prizewinners were awarded a plant, and they could choose either a spiral bamboo shoot or a flowering cactus.
‘Freshman Success Seminar’ students also entered a competition to build the tallest ‘oil rig’ using only recycled newspaper. The rig had to sustain a minimum weight of 500 grams. The rigs were displayed in the Arzanah Lobby.
Displays
Besides the paper ‘oil rigs’, there were several other interesting displays including but not limited to calculator and a clock that ran using water, and the designs developed by students as part of their course in ‘Strategies for Team-based Engineering Problem Solving’. In this display, models of designs for a sustainable village, which students had been required to develop as part of their studies, were available for guests to examine and discuss.
Several companies that were in the HSE and Sustainability business displayed their latest technology and products.
Dr. Haytham Mahmoud, Dr. Lana El Chaar and Dr. Lisa Lamont displayed their research on renewable/ sutainable energy initiatives.
STEPS (Strategies for Team-based Engineering Problem Solving) students led by Dr. Robert Craig had poster presentations on sustainability titled: ‘Reduce your carbon footprint’ and ‘We Can’t Afford To Buy A Good Life On The Earth By Selling Our Planet!’
Environment Agency Abu Dhabi had a Bu Tinah voting station in the main campus. This was intented to promote and garner support to vote Bu Tinah island as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Heroes of the UAE were also present and encouraged event attendees to take a pledge to conserve water and energy. Those who committed to this initiative were acknowledged with a wrist band and an energy efficiency lamp.
PI HSE Department did a poster presentation on PI’s Carbon Footprint Management Program. This program, which included an energy savings project that generated 837, 833 AED in savings, was awarded ADNOC’s 2009 HSE runner-up award in the Sustainability category. In addition, HSE made a presentation on PI’s carbon footprint program during the opening set of presentations on Earth Day.
Mobile Phone Recycling Campaign
During Earth Day, a Mobile Phone Recycling initiative was launched by WISE Program students. A station was set up in the lobby to encourage faculty, students and staff to drop off their spent handsets for recycling. This project was initiated by the AIChE Chapter under the new presidency of junior chemical engineering student Amena Adnan.
Health awareness
Over the two-day celebrations, the PI family was able to learn about various problems associated with obestity, and how to avoid becoming overweight. They were also able to take part in a number of health checks, such as blood pressure monitoring, blood sugar level testing and BMI.
‘Earthcast’ 2010
Dr. Nadia Alhasani, WISE Program Director, and Vance Stevens, AUP instructor, coordinated the ‘Earthcast’ 2010 event held for one hour on April 22nd. Four teams representing four different academic levels presented their projects, past and current, on issues related to sustainability. The presenters were:
- Diane Amin and Mariam Al Junaibi, representing AUP students, who gave a presentation on “Raising Awareness on Renewable Energy in the UAE” as part of their English Language Course requirements.
- Ayesha Tarek, representing freshmen students, who gave a presentation on “Renewable Energy at the PI” as part of her Communication 151 Course requirements.
- Aya Tarek and Amal Malalla, representing sophomore students, gave a presentation on “Design of a Sustainable Village” as part of their STEPS201 Course requirements.
- Tuka Al Hanai and Rehab Bani Hashem, representing junior students, gave a presentation on “Sustainable Energy in the UAE” as part of a research project conducted outside their course requirements.
The audience responded most positively to the presentations with numerous questions and comments.
A portal for the activity is available here: http://tinyurl.com/earthcast2010pi
A recording of the event is available here: http://connect.pi.ac.ae/p79409296/
Students were delighted to be part of such an initiative in which they were able to share their work with a global audience. They particularly appreciated the opportunity to promote the Petroleum Institute and the WISE Program at an international level.
The wide-ranging 2-day events were a great success, being at once educational and enjoyable for students and faculty. These students in particular are to be commended for their hard work, which resulted in a significant contribution to the success of the events over the 2 days:
- Khawla Al Manthari (President of Female Students’ Council)
- Yasmin Imad Abu Hijleh (President of the Environmental Club)
- Mariam Ali Darwish Ali Saleh Al Hosani
- Farah Rachid Younis (volunteer)
- Lydia Salim Lawand (volunteer)
- Fatima mohamed Abdul Aziz KH.E. Al Hameli (volunteer)
- Ahmed Tareq Ahmed Mohamed Khalil ((President of Students’ Council – Main campus)
- Amer Abdulhadi Salmeh (President of Environmental Club – Main campus)
- Al Waleed Khaled Wefqi Mohamed Abdel Azim Osman (volunteer)
Thank you everyone who helped to make the PI’s Earth Day celebrations so successful!
