Gurugram girl, 16, builds terracotta coolers that cut classroom heat by 10°C

The idea behind Project Vaayu began with a contrast that was difficult to ignore. In April 2024, as a severe heatwave swept across North India, 16-year-old Amaira Kapoor was struggling to concentrate in her own air-conditioned classroom. Nearby, children in government schools were trying to study in rooms with inadequate ventilation and little access to cooling.For the Gurugram student, the question was not just how to beat the heat, but how to make classrooms more comfortable for children who did not have the same facilities.“I was struggling to focus in my own climate-controlled classroom,” is how the experience is described in her profile by Action For Nature, which named Kapoor its 2026 Eco-Hero, awarding her first place in the competition.The experience led to Project Vaayu, an initiative Kapoor founded in April 2024 to develop low-cost cooling systems for under-resourced classrooms.