Sonam Wangchuk endured prison’s bitter cold, eyes zero-carbon heating fix

Climate activist and wife of Sonam Wangchuk, Gitanjali J Angmo, has shared a poignant account of the engineer's recent imprisonment, highlighting extreme cold in his cell and his vision for a sustainable heating solution using prison borewell water.

In a post on X, Angmo recounted her meeting with Wangchuk, who described the winter as the harshest he had ever faced indoors. Despite his Ladakhi roots and familiarity with sub-zero temperatures, having staged hunger strikes at -25°C and visited Antarctica, Wangchuk noted that his large, uninsulated cell in Delhi's jail maintained just 6°C both inside and out.

Strong winds through barred windows, lacking shutters, dropped the perceived chill to around 2°C, mimicking life under a Delhi bridge. Sleeping on a bare concrete floor with only extra blankets offered scant relief.

Wangchuk, known for his work in education and passive solar housing in Ladakh, where homes hold steady at 18°C even in harsh winters, drew a stark contrast to the prison conditions. He observed that water from the facility's external borewell pipes remained a balmy 25°C, even in freezing weather.

Seizing on this untapped resource, he proposed a cost-free, zero-carbon underfloor heating system. This could pipe the warm water through barracks floors nationwide, doubling as a cooling mechanism during India's scorching summers.

Angmo urged authorities to release Wangchuk, using the hashtag #freesonamwangchuknow, so he could resume his impactful projects. Her appeal underscores his resilience amid the ongoing campaign for his freedom.