The lights at Grundfos Pumps in Thoraipakkam don’t come on till 4.30 pm. This isn’t to say the office doesn’t function before this time or that the employees work in the dark. For they get all their light from the windows, designed to bring in 95% of the sunlight while absorbing the heat and thereby saving them energy. However, they aren’t the only ones. Many companies in the city are making an effort to reduce their energy consumption.
C N Raghavendran, chairman of the Indian Green Building Council, Chennai Chapter and one of the partners of CRN Architects & Engineers, that designs green buildings, says most industries try to save energy on appliances they use the most, like compressors and air conditioning.
Wipro Technologies that has all its branches operating out of Green Buildings use energy efficient dimmable ballast light fixtures and a chilled beam air conditioning system that chills the outside air to the indoor temperature by putting the air through chilling beams. “We also use variable frequency drives for all our operations which reduces the speed of the machine according to the load. Overall, our power consumption is reduced by 25 to 30%,” adds Niranjan Kumar, head of infrastructure in the company.
Ajit Kumar Chordia, managing director of Khivraj Tech Park and one of the promoters for Olympia Tech Park, has gone in for water coolers that use cool recycled water to reduce the temperature of the outside air. Grundfos Pumps thinks reducing energy bills is a good way to prepare for the future when there could be a dual tariff system. “We use a pump that is run by solar panels and also use chillers that make ice at night and use the melted ice to cool the air in the morning and therefore reduces consumption by more than 25%,” says R Rangarajan, head of service and training.
This energy saving technology doesn’t come easy on the pocket. But that doesn’t stop these companies who feel the returns are faster.
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