Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
Bricks that inhale carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen have earned Merryland International School in Abu Dhabi and two of its students the coveted Zayed Sustainability Award this year.
Students - Monica Akkineni and Muskan Maheshwari - pioneered this unique experiment under the leadership of school principal Subha Clifford.
Speaking to Aletihad, the two students and the principal shared their joy at receiving the award from President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Recalling the moment she received the award, Akkineni said: "It was a momentous occasion to receive the prize from His Highness on behalf of the school."
Akkineni added that the award is a testament to her school's dedication to creating solutions that promote sustainability.
"It was the greatest honour to meet and speak to His Highness and give him a high five. I will cherish this moment every day of my life," Akkineni said. "His inspiration will surely enable us and the entire school to realise his vision for education and a sustainable UAE."
The Zayed Sustainability Prize was established by the UAE leadership in 2008 to honour the humanitarian and sustainability legacy of the UAE's Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The award recognises and rewards small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), non-profit organisations (NPOs), and global high schools with sustainable solutions that benefit communities worldwide.
Each winner in the Health, Food, Energy, Water, and Climate Action categories receives $1 million to expand the scope and scale of their sustainability solution(s), while the Global High Schools category has six winners, representing six world regions, with each winner receiving up to $150,000.
Explaining the project, Subha Clifford said the experiment, known as Carbon Sponge, involves building a brick in which algae can naturally grow. Calling it an organic brick, the principal said it is made of sustainable materials to retain moisture for the algae to thrive. The main constituent is coconut fibre gelled with cement.
The algae-containing brick can absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, purifying the surrounding environment. "They double up as trees to cleanse the environment," the principal added.
Asked how they established the effectiveness of their experiment, Akkineni said they tested CO2 levels in a room with the brick wall and another room without one. The room with the wall had a far lower concentration of CO2. This conclusively demonstrated the effectiveness of the living wall in purifying the surrounding environment. "In a matter of hours, the CO2 levels were considerably reduced," Akkineni said, adding that if it were expanded, it would make a significant difference to our environment.
Asked how algae can help clean up the environment, Akkineni said it is an established scientific fact that all photosynthesising organisms take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen as part of their food production. "It's the same as trees. But algae is four times more effective in absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen," she added.
Akkineni and Maheshwari, who are in Grade 10, said they received help from the school faculty and technical department to put together the experiment. They credited the school for providing the necessary environment that made this experiment possible. They said the school's lessons are designed to raise students' curiosity and cultivate independent thinking.
Both students said they had been involved in sustainability-related projects since Grade 7.
Asked about her life ambitions, Akkineni said, surprisingly, she would like to enter the finance and investment banking sector despite being an avid science enthusiast. Maheshwari said she prefers to study medicine and become a surgeon.
The school, founded by internationally recognised educator Susheela George in 1978, has been a pioneer in Abu Dhabi's educational landscape. The Cambridge curriculum school, which boasts 25 awards in its illustrious history, is equipped with state-of-the-art learning infrastructure. It has students from kindergarten to Year 12.
The school has partnered with the NCEMA to establish its own weather station. It has its own robotics lab featuring humanoids, quadrupeds, and pet robots, and a planetarium to pique students' interest in space science. The school is also rated as "outstanding" by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) for multiple years. With an average of 2,500 students from 48 nationalities, it is also a brand ambassador of Cambridge University for outstanding performance for several years now.
Under the Global High School category, Merryland International School was selected as the winner from the Middle East and North Africa region. A school spokesman said this was the first time a UAE-based institution had received the award since its inception in 2008.
The principal said the school plans to use the $150,000 award money to scale up the project. It is in talks with Khalifa University, Masdar City, and the National Aquarium of Abu Dhabi to explore ways to expand the project. The project seeks to expand from schools to research institutions and then to industrial use. She said the school was ready to collaborate with anyone interested in taking the idea forward.
