No gaslighting

While working in the marketing and technology department of a hostel chain in India Sachin Sengarrsquos job was to identify energy inefficiencies in the system and plug the gaps Curtailing electrical expenditure turned out to be his biggest challenge ldquoIn some cities the electricity bills were greater than the collective sum of the staffrsquos salaryrdquo he remembers ldquoPeople left the lights on Air conditioners operated at nonoptimal capacity consuming more power Most often wersquod realise this only after they would break downrdquoBengalurubased Sengar helped them scale down the emissions by 500 per cent in two yearsThe app will provide monthly updates with data photos and stories that prove your impact on the environmentLater he launched a venture to help commercial properties save on energy The more he researched climate change the more he realised the urgency of cutting down carbon emissions For this he had to look beyond commercial propertiesLowsoot is Sengarrsquos new startup whose mission is to track and erase carbon emissions by funding carbon removal projects A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and methane that are generated by our actions The team at Lowsoot has devised a calculator through which individuals and businesses can find out how much CO2 they emit The calculator gives a rough estimate of your carbon footprint based on the size of your household the efficiency of your appliances how much you drive or fly what you eat and how much you recycleSachin SengarMore than 1000 people have used the platform to know their annual footprint claims Sengar adding that the company has erased more than 5000 tonne of carbon footprints until now and their plan is to erase one lakh tonne in a year According to estimates human activities emit 51 billion tonne of greenhouse gases per year which is equal to cutting 225 billion trees annually At this rate experts anticipate a climate catastrophe by 2050Itrsquos not enough to reduce carbon emissions alone believes Sengar ldquoBy doing so itrsquoll only delay the climate catastrophe instead of 2050 we might hit one by 2070 To avoid the possibility altogether we need to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere In fact we need to do both simultaneouslyrdquoEarlier this year SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated 100 million to fund a competition to find new ways to remove carbon from the air or water in a bid to help fight climate changeAt Lowsoot the team has collaborated with organisations such as Say Trees Grow Trees both working towards planting and protecting mangroves and INSEDA Integrated Sustainable Energy and Ecological Development Association which has been involved in the promotion and implementation of renewable energy programmes since 1980ldquoCurrently we are planting mangroves in the Sunderbans belt because they have the ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by storing it inside its structure Research shows that coastal mangroves outperform most other forests in their capacity to store carbon Itrsquos also our natural coastal defence so it protects communities at risk from severe weather disasters caused by climate changerdquo One mangrove tree removes 308 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere over its growth life which is 123 kg per yearOn a daily level Sengar says we need to focus on making small changes to our actions like eating less meat and not leaving ACs and water heaters onConsidering they are one of the first players in the energysaving space building trust among users is one of the challenges ldquoWe are doing this by getting experienced scientists and researchers on board to provide more information and transparencyrdquo308Amount of carbon dioxide in kilos one mangrove tree can remove from the atmosphere during its lifetime