Hindu Council Promoting Ecological Practices
Environmentally sustainable Sri Venkateswara Hindu Temple
Sri Venkateswara Hindu temple in Helensburgh (SVT in short) is the biggest Hindu temple in Australia. It was constructed in 1990 according to the authentic Hindu temple architecture. In 2010 they celebrated their 20th anniversary.
In the design of the building SVT took special care to make use of the natural light as far as possible so that in the day time there is minimum use of artificial lighting. They have also installed storm-water tanks to store rain water for use in gardening, cleaning etc. They are planting trees all around.
In the actual worship they have replaced camphor by oil-wick to reduce pollution. Traditionally for waving light in front of the God’s idle camphor was being used. That used to create lot of soot. That is now minimized. Also in the fire-service, the hearth size has been reduced to reduce the amount of wood used.
In the canteen area they have replaced the disposable plastic plates by bio-degradable paper plates. Also they run buses on festival days between the temple site and the train station to encourage people to take the public transportation.
They are also planning to install solar panels in next year or so to make use of the renewable energy for lighting and heating purposes. These are some of the ways the Hindu temple is trying to keep it environmentally sustainable.