This 446-Acre University Campus in Bihar Runs Entirely on Solar Power & Harvests Its Water

4 August 2025

1,600 years ago, Nalanda in Bihar was the world’s first residential university. Today, it’s back —powered by the sun, watered by the rain, and built for the future!

Imagine a campus so green, it produces more energy than it consumes! Nalanda’s new 446-acre campus generates all its own electricity, harvests every drop of water, and even turns waste into energy.

No ACs, no problem! Ancient cooling secrets meet modern tech — thick earth walls & the futuristic DEVAP cooling keep buildings naturally comfortable. Even the bricks are eco-friendly compressed earth!

100 acres of shimmering lakes — but here’s the twist! These aren’t just pretty water bodies. They’re part of an ancient ‘Ahar-Pyne’ system that harvests monsoon rains to keep the campus self-sufficient.

From waste to watts! A 1.5 MW biogas plant turns organic waste into clean energy. Even sewage gets a second life — DeWAT systems recycle it for irrigation. Zero waste, zero excuses.

Why burn bricks when the earth can breathe? Instead of polluting kiln-baked bricks, Nalanda used compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB) — 5x greener, naturally insulating, and cheaper!

At Nalanda, students don’t just study sustainability—they live it. From solar farms to water recycling, every corner teaches green innovation.

17 countries, 1 mission. Scholars from China, Australia, South Korea and more come here, proving sustainability has no borders. Global problems need global classrooms.

Awarded the GRIHA 5-Star (India’s top green rating), Nalanda isn’t just rebuilding history—it’s rewriting the future. A zero-carbon campus. A global classroom. A lesson for the world.