Youth innovator Amaira Kapoor created Project Vaayu to build a kulhad cooler utilizing clay cooling for school cooling, earning an Eco Hero award for her evaporative cooling device built as a Gurugram innovator using upcycled clay cups with low power consumption to provide heat relief through grassroots innovation and upcycled craft, creating massive student impact via sustainable technology.
When summer temperatures soared across North India in 2024, the young student observed a troubling disparity. While private school students sat in comfortable air-conditioned spaces, children attending nearby government schools struggled to focus inside stifling, unconditioned classrooms. Refusing to ignore the problem, she turned to sustainable engineering for an answer.
Addressing Heat In Classrooms
Extreme heatwaves increasingly disrupt academic schedules across India, disproportionately affecting under-resourced public schools that lack mechanical cooling infrastructure. Extended exposure to high indoor temperatures leads to heat exhaustion, reduced cognitive focus, and lower school attendance among young children.
Recognizing these challenges, Amaira set out to create an accessible cooling solution tailored specifically for low-budget public institutions. Standard commercial air conditioners were impractical due to high purchase costs and heavy electrical consumption that government school budgets could not support. Amaira realized that an effective solution needed to rely on affordable raw materials, simple thermodynamic principles, and low electricity usage.
Harnessing Porous Clay Physics
To design an eco-friendly system, Amaira looked toward traditional Indian cooling methods. For centuries, unglazed terracotta and earthenware pots have been used across rural households to keep drinking water cool through natural evaporation.
Applying this science, Amaira gathered discarded terracotta tea cups, commonly known as kulhads, from local tea vendors. Together with a team of student volunteers, she engineered a modular cooling frame filled with these porous clay cups. A small pump continuously circulates water over the exterior of the kulhads. As ambient air is pushed through the damp terracotta matrix, the water absorbs heat and evaporates, rapidly cooling the incoming air before circulating it into the classroom.
Measuring Field Test Impact
Field tests conducted across target schools demonstrated the immediate practical success of the innovation. The Project Vaayu cooling units consistently reduced internal classroom temperatures by six to ten degrees Celsius. Because the system relies primarily on natural evaporative physics, it consumes a fraction of the power required by conventional cooling appliances, making it financially sustainable for public schools.
To date, Project Vaayu has successfully installed five custom cooling units across four government schools, directly improving daily learning conditions for over four hundred students. The initiative highlights how circular design principles can transform discarded everyday waste into functional climate technology.
Winning International Eco Recognition
Amaira Kapoor’s grassroots engineering work gained international acclaim when Action For Nature awarded Project Vaayu first place in the 2026 Eco-Hero Awards. The global panel recognized the initiative for its environmental efficiency, creative material upcycling, and tangible social impact on vulnerable school communities.
Beyond immediate heat relief, Project Vaayu serves as an educational model for students. By demonstrating that effective engineering solutions can be assembled from local waste materials, Amaira inspires fellow youth to apply practical science toward pressing environmental and social challenges within their own neighborhoods.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Amaira Kapoor’s Project Vaayu demonstrates the transformative power of youth empathy and sustainable engineering. By converting discarded clay tea cups into functional climate relief technology, she has brought dignity, comfort, and better learning conditions to hundreds of government school students. Supporting student-led sustainable innovations remains vital as communities adapt to increasing heat challenges.
How can local educational boards partner with student innovators to scale low-cost sustainable cooling systems across under-resourced public schools nationwide?
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