From parking to climate change, the Climate Solver Regional Meeting  held in WelcomHotel, Chennai had a wide range of discussions and ideas. WWF\’s Climate Solver event was conducted on February 23, 2018.  The event was hosted by TiE Chennai in association with Aspiration Energy. The key speakers for the event were  as follows:   Climate Solver is a WWF global initiative to strengthen the development and widespread use of innovative low-carbon technologies. It helps organisations showcase the various measures taken towards the issue of Climate Change The introductory speech about Climate Solver and TiE was given by Mr. Bhoovarahan Thirumalai. Mr. Bhoovarahan spoke on the objectives of the Climate Solver – one being the need to recognise the pioneers who have made their mark in the field of sustainability and energy conservation and the other – providing a platform to showcase the various measures taken by the organisations towards the issue of climate change. It would also help the other organisations take necessary precautions and warn of the consequence of Climate Change. He also took time to give  a brief introduction about TiE – The Indus Entrepreneurs and it\’s functions. This was followed by a formal introduction by Mr. Raghavan, Secretary, SICCI.   Mr. Panwar, Director, Climate Change and Energy Programme, WWF – India then spoke on the connection between WWF  and Energy. He also spoke on the role of small and medium scale industries in abating emissions   Other speakers included Raj Cherubil, CEO of Chennai Smart City and Krishna Kumar, Senior Research Associate at Okapi Research & Advisory who spoke on various initiatives in pipeline for the Smart City Project and scenario of the SME sector in India , respectively.   This was followed by an energetic panel discussion on the cleantech industry in India and the world.  

  Mr. Deepak Kumar Gupta – AGM Facility Operations, DAIMLER was one among the presenters and his presentation brief is given below. Mr. Deepak started his presentation with a formal introduction about Daimler and its various business divisions. In Tamil Nadu, they have their manufacturing unit in Chennai near Oragadam. His colleague Mr. Arumugam took over the presentation and explained about the energy monitoring activities at their Chennai plant. They have installed about 3.3 MW solar PV plant in their car parking, test track area and in rooftop of warehouse building. Overall 70% of their energy needs come from renewables, in which the above solar system contributes about 15% of it and the remaining comes from other sources like Windmills. As a green initiative, they have planted about 16,000 trees around their factory premises.Their hazardous waste is coprocessed and utilized as an AFR for cement production. As a company, they have a firm Environment Management Programme and they make following actions under it; Optimum A/C operation in the plant using smart controller Optimum operation of chiller systems in the paint unit Auto timer controller for lightings VFD installed after making series of energy audits More than 8 lakh units of power savings achieved Zero liquid discharge unit STP treated water for gardening & toilets Water pond management SCADA based energy monitoring – Energy meter, Water flow meter & Propane flow meter Centralized energy monitoring using sub systems Overall by using the above energy conservation techniques, they were able to conserve 24% of energy, 7% of water, 24% wastewater treatment and 15% propane. Daimler Chennai unit has been awarded with the Golden Peacock Environment Award for their energy conservation practices in their plant facility. Q&A session: It was asked about the payback and maintenance of the solar system they have installed. For which he replied about the payback term and mentioned that top management was also interested in their green initiatives and several such initiatives are in pipeline. Regarding the maintenance it’s only the panel cleaning playing a major role since the plant is located near national highways which forms more dust accumulation on panels. Also, people suggested about floating solar concepts and asked about their waste heat recovery system and he replied that heat recovery system was being used in their paint shop. Click here for the complete details about the event.

Footprints showcases and celebrates inspiring stories about individuals and organizations in the manufacturing sector, doing their bit to mitigate the effects of climate change. The 5th event of Footprints was held on Friday, 24th November 2017 in Welcom Hotel, Chennai and the theme of this edition is \”Celebrating Climate Change Mitigation in Manufacturing Industry – Energy Monitoring & Control\”. Click here for the complete details about the event. Mr. Jaishankar.T, – General Manager, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd, Chennai was one among the presenters and his presentation brief is given below He started with a formal introduction about UCAL and its various products that they contribute to automobile sectors. Their company policy towards energy conservation has two goals (a)Reduction of cost/unit (b)Reduction of unit consumption Due to the interrupted power supply from the grid, UCAL depended more on diesel gensets for their own internal power generation and their generation cost was around Rs 12-13/unit. In order to cut down their power cost from generation, they planned for going to a dedicated feeder and third-party power procurement. He mentioned that they have invested around Rs 45 lakhs for dedicated feeders and they have their payback in 6 months time. Coming to the energy monitoring methodologies followed in UCAL, he mentioned that they have connected SCADA based monitoring and connected energy meters at feeder point, line point and usage point for continuous monitoring. They have used Thyristor controller for their Pressure Die Casting (PDC) electrical furnace (45 kW capacity) to reduce unwanted power consumption. Also, they have built some reservoir with a booster in their dedicated compressor machines which stores compressed air and avoids unnecessary compressor operation. He mentioned about the use of LED lights replacing normal tube lights and use of VFD motors and drives. Overall with the help of these above energy monitoring and control measures in their process plants altogether they were able to save 10.39 lakh units of power and Rs 3.5 crores in a year. Right now they are executing a trial run on Heat Pumps, planning to replace the electrical heaters in their component washing machines, which account to about 600 kW connected load. This Heat Pumps can reduce 40% of their power consumption At last, he mentioned that their company overall energy (power) cost is 5%  in 13-14 and their target is to bring it down to 3% in the coming financial year, which is on its way of progress. Q&A Session Questions were raised on their grid power quality for which they have shifted to the dedicated feeder and their measures towards thermal energy monitoring, which he said it yet to be planned. Questions were asked about their individual machine level power monitoring and he mentioned that as of now only PDC furnace was individually monitored since it is the highest power consuming device in the plant and further plans for monitoring is on its way. Also, they are planning to work on SEC of a product in coming future Click here for the complete details about the event.

Switching to renewable energy by installing a 3.5 MWp captive solar plant, reducing energy consumption by deploying heat pumps, installing VFDs(Variable Frequency Drives) and even timers to switch off lights during tea breaks(even if the break is only 10 minutes) – ranging from the most obvious to the less obvious, these were some of the key green energy initiatives taken by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, UCAL Fuel Systems and Brakes India Ltd. The details of these initiatives were presented during the 5th Edition of Footprints, organized by South Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry(SICCI) on 24th November 2017 at Chennai. About Footprints Footprints is a series of events that celebrates Climate Change Mitigation in Manufacturing Industry by providing the stage for the pioneers in the manufacturing industry who are doing their extra bit to protect the environment in whatever way they can. The 1st Edition of Footprints was held in June 2015, with the support of IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship(CIIE), Infuse Ventures, an early stage venture capital(VC) fund and ecosystem focused on sustainability and clean energy sector in India and HSBC Bank. The well-received – one of its kind – Footprints event has since been serving as a platform for exchanging best practices in Climate Change Mitigation initiatives as well as for some great networking among like minded industry professionals. The event has had speakers from industries and academia, like • the Indian subsidiaries of multi-national companies like Saint Gobain Glasses(France), Grundfos(Denmark), Daimler(Germany), • some of the Indian auto majors like Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, component manufacturers like Brakes India Ltd, Wheels India Ltd, UCAL Fuel Systems, • other firms like Chemplast Sanmar, Orchid Pharma and Dharani Sugars, and • IIT Madras. The different Editions of the event have been held in Chennai and Hosur so far. The past Editions of Footprints each had a theme – “Zero Liquid Discharge” and “Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Industry”. 5th Edition of Footprints Peter Drucker’s famous quote “What gets measured gets managed”, is particularly true in effective implementation of Energy Efficiency initiatives, and with today’s advancements in embedded devices technology, falling costs of sensors and associated hardware, and the increasing sophistication of the backend software that collects data and analyses energy usage, real-time energy monitoring of energy usage has the potential to transform industries. Realizing the potential of IoT(Internet of Things) in energy efficiency, companies large and small – from Intel to Altizon – are providing solutions that will help companies not only track their energy usage, but proactive reduce it. While IoT technologies are rapidly improving, what is the reality on the ground? How are manufacturing firms measuring their energy usage and reducing their energy consumption? The organizers of Footprints wanted the industry to address this issue. Hence “Energy Monitoring in Manufacturing Industry” was selected as the theme of the 5th Edition of Footprints. For this event, 3 manufacturing firms shared their experience in reducing their energy consumption by deploying energy monitoring systems and processes. The 3 companies were 1. UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd 2. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd 3. Brakes India Ltd Veteran Journalist, Mr. M. Ramesh, Senior Deputy Editor of The Hindu Businessline moderated the event. The high quality audience included representatives from companies like Royal Enfield, Lucas TVS, Stanadyne, SPIC Group, etc. After the opening remarks by the SICCI Secretary General Dr. S. Raghavan about the event, Mr. Bhoovarahan Thirumalai, CEO of Aspiration Energy, set the tone for the event by providing the context for the theme address and explained how monitoring of energy usage is the first step in saving energy. He highlighted the fact that it is quite difficult for any company to prioritize energy efficiency initiatives since its impact is more on the bottomline, and the tangible impact of these initiatives get visible only over the mid to long term. However, the good news is that despite the constraints, top management of many companies recognize the importance of climate change mitigation and are taking a long-term view in pushing for these initiatives.   1. UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd The first speaker was Mr. Jaishankar T, General Manager, UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd and he explained several initiatives that has led to significant reduction in power consumption. The goal is to reduce 10% power cost every year by reducing power consumption and lowering the unit cost of power. Some of the initiatives in reducing power consumption include -Identifying the fixed and variable loads using Krykod energy monitoring system -Implementing thyristor controls in PDC electrical furnace -Using solar street lights and heat pump -A trial run of Heat Pumps to replace electric washing machines have shown upto 40% savings in electricity consumption. Initiatives that led to lower power cost include -Optimized power utilization to reduce cost per unit in DG -Owning and operating own wind firms in Palladam (Coimbatore Dt) and Muppanthal (Kanyakumari Dt) -3rd party solar power purchase and also installation of solar PV systems in factory premises  (Click here to know about UCAL Fuel Systems Ltd presentation) 2. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd The next speaker was Mr. Deepak Kumar Gupta, AGM Utilities, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd  India explained how Daimler was one of the pioneers in installing rooftop PV installation in India by installing a 300 kWp project way back in 2013. The size of their captive solar PV project within the factory premises has grown ten-fold since then, and touched a capacity of 3.2 MWp. Daimler has a state of the art SCADA system that captures real-time data at a granular level and can be used to set baseline energy consumption, and assist in continuous improvements in energy efficiency. When it comes to energy savings measures, the company-Uses timer controls in Air conditioners and Lightings and -Has installed VFDs in every motor -Reduction of wastage of compressed air -Waste Heat Recovery initiatives Non-energy related Climate Change Mitigation efforts include -Planting 16,000 trees in the factory premises -Water treatment measures that lead to annual savings of 1.7lakh liters