Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 47 “Carbon Neutrality in Industry”

Dear friends,

In today’s scenario of threatening climate change, Industry has responsibility of being carbon-neutral. Any Industry going Carbon Neutral implies that it offsets carbon as much as it produces through its operations directly or indirectly. “For every car produced which would run on petrol, your company should produce another car which would run on ethanol (bio-fuel)” said Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam while visiting a Car manufacturing company abroad. That signifies the concept of a carbon neutral industry in broad terms.

CARBON EMISSION IN INDUSTRY

Any industry is responsible for carbon emission directly or indirectly. Its scope can be categorized by “GHG protocol Corporate Standard” developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as under:

Scope-1: Direct Carbon Emissions from owned boilers, Diesel generators etc.

Scope-2: Purchased Electricity- Indirect Carbon Emissions at the Generating sources

Scope-3: Other Indirect Carbon Emissions from Waste generated, Business Travel etc.

SITUATION ANALYSIS AND SETTING AGENDA

Any Industry willing to become carbon neutral will have to first assess its Carbon Footprint and then set its agenda for action. A study was conducted by GLIM, Gurugram at Tata Communications in Maharashtra region.

Carbon Foot Print (CFP) of Tata Communications

Scope-1 CFP: Fuel (Diesel) used in backup power

Scope-2 CFP: Electric power usage

[In TATA Communications- Maharashtra, approximately 90% of the Carbon Emission is due to the above.]

Scope-3  CFP : Activities generating carbon indirectly: Waste generated, Business Travel and Employees commuting.

Agenda of Tata Communications towards Carbon Neutrality

Scope-1 Agenda:   Back-up Fuel “High Speed Diesel (HSD)” to be replaced by “Bio-Diesel”

Scope-2 Agenda:

Carbon reduction through:

• Energy efficiency {Efficient usage of power in data centers}
• Innovative techniques to restrict carbon emission
• Geothermal Pumping for Cooling (saving electric power)
• Solar LED standalone street lighting system

Carbon off-set by sourcing Carbon-Free Green Power:

• Solar
• Wind
• Regular & Seasonal Hydro

Scope-3 Agenda:

• Treating Waste generated
• Tele-presence Services to reduce “Business Travel”
• Replacing conventional vehicles by ‘Solar charged battery operated vehicles’ in the Campus to reduce carbon footprint of  “Employees commuting”
• Afforestation to nullify remains of the above three indirect sources of carbon emission
• Promoting Environmental Consciousness

STRATEGIES AND IMPACTS

Scope-1 Strategies & Impacts

Back-up Fuel “High Speed Diesel (HSD)” to be replaced by “Bio-Diesel”

Replacement of High Speed Diesel (HSD) used in power backup generating units by BIO-DIESEL could be very effective in reducing emissions by 90%. Bio-diesel is seamlessly interchangeable with petroleum diesel. It has better lubrication and increased productivity of electricity generators. Bio-diesel needs no change in infrastructure and no engine modifications.

Scope-2 Strategies & Impacts

Electricity is consumed at five different locations of TCL within Maharashtra. At the end of FY 2014-15, the load at TCL Maharashtra was approximately 23.5 MW causing emission of 113096.7 Tonnes of CO_2. Company proposes to expand its business by the end of 2020, for which it has estimated a capacity addition at some of the sites in Maharashtra resulting in 48 MW of net total load in Maharashtra.

CARBON REDUCTION STRATEGIES

Energy efficiency {efficient usage of power in data centers}

Benchmarking of Energy Efficiency of Data Centers is usually done by Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) which is defined as the ratio of Total Facility Energy to Energy used in IT Equipment. At present TCL compares with reputed companies in the world as follows:

                                                PUE in Different Reputed Companies

Company	PUE
GOOGLE	1.09
FACEBOOK	1.2
TCL	1.9

The above shows that there is a scope of improving energy efficiency at TCL. One of the simplest ways to save energy in a data centre is to raise the temperature. It is a myth that data centres need to be kept absolutely chilly. According to most IT equipment manufacturers’ specifications, data centre operators can safely raise their cold aisle to 80°F or higher. By doing so, we significantly reduce facility energy use. At present TCL Data Centres are operated at a temperature of 73.4 ⁰ F which is 6.6 ⁰ F chiller than what Google is operating at present.

The electricity that powers a data centre ultimately turns into heat. Most data centres use chillers or air conditioning units to cool down the equipment, requiring extra energy usage. At Google data centres, they often use water as an energy-efficient way to cool instead. At TCL also we have Chiller and Crack units installed besides air conditioning, which help in cooling whereas at Google they are using natural water based cooling mechanism.

For using natural water based cooling, quality of water needs to be ensured and it may have a cost component associated with purifying it. A feasibility test on the availability of purified water has to be done, which if turns out to be positive for implementation, huge amount of electricity consumption can be reduced.

Innovative Techniques to restrict Carbon Emission: Geothermal Pumping for Cooling (saving electric power)

70% of the total energy used in TCL Maharashtra is used in HVAC load, which basically includes Chillers & Cracks.

In order to drastically reduce the HVAC load of Chillers and Cracks or to eliminate them completely, geothermal pumping can be resorted to. Geothermal technology uses earth to dissipate heat as sink and uses reverse geothermal pumping for cooling purpose. It relies on the fact that the Earth (beneath the surface) remains at a relatively constant temperature throughout the year, very much like a cave. Heat pumps can be deployed using a vapour compression cycle to transport heat from IT Equipment to the earth which becomes a heat sink and in the process cooling the machines. Energy saved in Chillers and Cracks can be enormous contributing to carbon savings.

Solar LED standalone street lighting system

Streetlights, which are being used at TCL Pune facility presently, are having the rating of 250 watts with at least 200 fixtures. Taking round-the-year operation @ 10 hrs. /day, energy implied would be 250 x 200 x 3650/1000 = 182500 kWh. By installing standalone LED solar enabled street lighting system, around 182500 x 0.98 = 178850 Kg= 178.85 Tonnes of CO₂ can be offset annually.

CARBON OFF-SET STRATEGIES

Sourcing Carbon-free Green Power:

• Solar
• Wind
• Regular & Seasonal Hydro

Solar Power

At TCL there is 3 MW of installed solar capacity in Pune which is supposed to provide about 12 % of power used in TCL, Maharashtra. Out of total energy of 129578438 kWh consumed during 2014-15, 14173643 kWh (10.94%) of green power from solar was used in TCL. By adding some more capacity (going up to 5 MW), it is expected to supply about 20% of power from green sources in near future, saving to that extent the emission of CO_{2 .}

Wind Power

Out of the 5 office locations 4 are situated at the seashore where company is planning to install micro windmills for harnessing energy from wind source. They are looking at purchasing the turbines and installing them on the rooftops of the office locations. Power generated from these windmills can be used for general small lighting purpose. On an average these windmills cost Rs. 1-2 Lakh per turbine.

Regular & Seasonal Hydro

At Tata Communications, a paradigm shift in carbon neutrality can be seen by tying up with (carbon free) Hydropower. While seriously attempting to tie up with “Tata Hydro” for entire power requirement, surplus hydro power in Maharashtra Grid during rainy season could be tied up at the first place.

Scope-3 Strategies & Impacts

Following activities were identified under Scope-3 on which the Company did not have much control. However, Company’s limited intervention is possible.

Treating Waste Generated

In Tata Communications, the waste coming out of operations is primarily the waste from Diesel Generating sets during maintenance sent out to third party vendor for disposal. The data is maintained during refills and maintenance cycles for waste lubricating oil. Within the premises of Tata Communications, Pune the company has installed a waste handling unit, which essentially accepts biodegradable waste including kitchen wastes as input and processes it to provide output as manure, which is used for the plantation within the company. The net GHG emission is reduced because the energy intensive fertilizer production and associated GHGs are reduced to that extent.

Tele-presence services to reduce Business Travel

Tele-presence service can optimize travel. Tata’s Tele-presence service encompasses both public room services and private tele-presence managed services. Businesses aiming at reducing their travel costs and minimizing their carbon footprint want to consider adopting tele-presence meeting options such as videoconferencing. Frequent flyers contribute disproportionately to greenhouse gas emissions besides losing working time.

Replacing conventional vehicles by ‘Solar charged battery operated vehicles’ to reduce carbon footprint of ‘Employees Commuting’

On an average around 750 vehicles are daily running within the campus for a distance of around 2 km each. So 1500 km of run of four wheelers at an average of 15 km/litre consumes 100 litres of fuel for commuting. TCL is planning to start battery operated vehicles within the premises and designing a master solar park at the main gate (proposed) which is at ideal location of sun face for solar power. Power generated from this park could be used to charge the batteries of a single vehicle with the sitting capacity of 25 to 30 people and total Run per day 80 to 100 KM.

Afforestation to sink Carbon

Remains of the three identified scope-3 activities can be addressed by creating some forest carbon sinks. On an average 12 trees are needed to sink 1 tonne of CO₂ after 5 years.  According to these statistics if we are planting 10,000 trees in 2015 in TCL’s campus then 833 tonnes of CO₂ emission can be offset by 2020.  Plantation pattern has to be identified, which contributes to offset carbon emission and also adds to the aesthetics of the office premises as per choice of the employees. This approach will help in building green healthy environment around the work place. The office location of TCL Pune is spread over 1100 acres of land, so plantation on this land can be used to create carbon sinks. As per the Government policy a Corporate has to invest 2% of its total annual Profit in CSR activity. Linking this expense with afforestation, plantation can be done in the premises with the help of any NGO.

Promoting Environmental Consciousness

Promoting cycling within the Campus to ‘burn calories not carbon’ will also help in involving each and every employee of TCL in generating awareness towards reducing carbon emission.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

All the above measures of carbon reduction and offsetting would show results in their own magnitude. Besides, it would generate tremendous awareness about carbon neutrality across the organization. Brand value of the Organization with pursuance of carbon neutrality as a corporate goal is going to increase in the emerging environment conscious scenario.  For many firms, the allure of bolstering their corporate or product brand reputation is a key consideration in seeking to go carbon neutral. What is crucial is that the approach adopted by TCL is robust, transparent and based on available standards and protocols. “Achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2020 in TATA Communications Ltd.-Maharashtra” has a great significance.  What is crucial is that it is not to be pursued as a stand-alone exercise, but as part of a broader sustainability strategy that encompasses the whole business.

At Tata Communications, the target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020 seems possible if most of their input power can be tied up with (carbon free) conventional Hydro. The Group Company has an installed hydro capacity of 576 MW in Maharashtra itself. While the other measures dealt with in this letter may make their own contribution towards Carbon Neutrality, the objective could be fully achieved by dedicating majority of 24 MW now progressing to 48 MW of “Tata Hydro” to Tata Communications in Maharashtra by 2020.

Let us hope, Industry as such takes a step forward towards carbon neutrality.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 46 “Value Orientation to Power / Energy Sector”

My dear friends,

Life on earth has been created on so many exacting conditions.
1. The earth rotates on its axis at one thousand miles an hour. If it turned at one hundred miles an hour, our days and nights, would be ten times as long as now, and the hot sun would then burn up our vegetation during each long day while in the long night any surviving sprout would freeze.
2. The slant of the earth, tilted at an angle of 23 degrees, gives us our seasons. If it had not been so tilted, vapors from the ocean would move north and south, piling up for us continents of ice.
3. The sun, the source of our life, has a surface temperature of 12,000o F and our earth is just far enough away so that this “eternal fire” warms us just enough and not too much. If the sun gave off only one half its present radiation, we would freeze, and if it gave half as much more, we would roast.
4. If our moon was, say, only 50 thousand miles away instead of its actual distance, our tides would be so enormous that twice a day all continents would be submerged.
5. Had the ocean been a few feet deeper, carbon di oxide and oxygen would have been absorbed and no vegetable life could exist.
6. Ozone layer protects the earth from ultraviolet rays of the sun and a well-designed greenhouse enveloping the earth maintains the right kind of warmth for living beings to survive.
The above exacting conditions necessary for life on earth could not possibly exist in proper relationship by chance. There is not one chance in millions that life on our planet is an accident. In fact, it appears to be a deliberately designed system to perfect equilibrium.

Sustainability of Human Intervention in Nature’s Equilibrium
Mahatma Gandhi said “There is enough in nature for everyone’s need but not enough for everyone’s greed”. With the evolution of human beings and their multiplying population together with their intelligence and aspirations to command the nature, the question arises as to how much intervention is possible in the universe, in such an exacting relationship as described above. For instance,
1. How much we can intercept locally the nature’s hydrological cycle for irrigation and power, with repercussions on local environment, even though carbon-free.
2. How much fossil fuel we can burn for power generation and other needs since it has a very serious repercussion on emissions of carbon di-oxide which according to an estimate, if not brought down to 60% of the current level, may cause major climatic shifts and submergence of low lying lands by 2050.
3. How much we can afford emission of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) which have already started disrupting the ozone layer which may cause skin cancer, blindness etc. The seasonal hole in the ozone layer during Sept’1998 covered an area of 25 million KM2 (about 2.5 times the area of Europe). According to one estimate 60% of GHG is attributed to energy Sector.
4. How much technological development we can afford so as not to disrupt the nature’s supportive equilibrium. At what rate resource consumption and growth of population is possible keeping intact the regenerative and self-recycling characteristics of the nature besides carrying capacity and assimilative capacity of the Eco-systems.

Value Orientation
Human intervention needs value orientation in any sector of development. A 15-point charter of values is suggested below for power / energy sector.

1. Sense of Proportion: A respectable share of Hydro is a technical necessity of Power Grid. Present Hydro:Thermal mix of 20:80 should ideally shift to 40:60.
2. System Ethos: Voltage and frequency fluctuations causing heavy damage to power equipment and completely stalling the sensitive control equipment; speak poorly of power system ethos. Grid frequency is a critical aspect of power system operations and a function of demand and supply (when demand exceeds supply, frequency dips and vice versa). Grid frequency reflects the discipline and the stress in the system. The frequency variation for example should be brought down from 8% (48 Hz-52 Hz) at times to less than 1% (49.7 Hz-52.2 Hz) at all times. CERC now aims at 0.2%.
3. Techno-economic Sense: Techno-economically, Hydro proves several times favourable option compared to thermal keeping in view the life cycle cost, recurring fuel cost and its escalation, environmental cost and grid economy. Nuclear option exhausts our foreign currency reserves right from fuel (uranium) to technology.
4. Financial Acumen: Solar PV is the costliest option for a 50 MW scale, but it breaks even for a 50 kW plant and proves cheapest for an isolated 50 W system.
5. Sustainability: With the present rate of consumption, all oil and gas stocks would be completely exhausted in India before 2050. Fossil route cannot prime the growth which is sustainable.
6. Renewability: Ever renewed solar energy is radiating directly onto the earth, at the same time manifesting itself in several indirect forms such as wind, hydro, ocean thermal and bio-energy etc. This naturally recycled resource-base holds potential for perpetual power generation.
7. Energy Storage: Energy storage is complementary to intermittent renewables. With “Energy Storage” component, the load demand can be met much better, right from cyclic stability to daily demand pattern to even seasonal demands.
8. Environmental Compatibility: Environmental impacts net of mitigative measures place Hydro at 3 against 7 that of thermal on a 10-point scale. Carbon emissions of Hydro and Nuclear options are least compared to all other known options for power generation, considering the full energy chain. Their carbon emission compared to coal option is in the ratio of 5:270. Hydro:Thermal SO2 emission is in the ratio of 1:1000.
9. Interweaving of Technical and Commercial Values: Higher tariff for peaking power could be an attempt towards optimising technical and commercial values of power.
10. Security Concerns: Longevity of imported fossil fuels is extremely doubtful since globally the oil and gas stocks are going to exhaust fast with the rate of consumption growing with population and their aspirations. National energy security concerns call for indigenous and renewable options to be developed.
11. Optimizing Demand-Supply Gap: Present peaking power shortages in India could have been completely eliminated under the same MW installed (under the same investment) had the country gone for a judicious Hydro:Thermal mix. Demand side management and energy efficiency measures on utilization side can also narrow down the demand supply gap which at present is in the range of 2.1 % energy shortage and 2.6 % peaking shortage during 2015-16, in respect of present electricity connected consumers.                                   12. Smart Grid: A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operational and energy measures including real time smart meters and other appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency measures. For instance, improvement of tail-end grid voltages can be achieved through Solar Panels. Computer intelligence & networking abilities and automation make it interactive right from generator to consumer. Optimization of energy use on real time basis with resultant economy and comfort are obvious benefits of smart grid which should soon be made available to all the electricity customers.
13. Decentralisation: It may be uneconomical to extend the grid to the remotest areas and therefore off-grid electrification with localised generation and distribution system viz. ‘mini-grid’ should be equally respected and encouraged. Stand-alone systems can also help in avoidance of transmittal of that much of power over long distance with attendant losses.
14. New Capacity Vs. Upgradation: Upgradation comprising renovation, retrofitting, uprating and modernisation is cheaper, faster and environmentally friendlier option for coping with the increasing demand than the new capacity addition and should therefore get priority in the power sector.
15. Conservation: We generate 4 units for ultimate utilization of just 1 unit of electricity, 25% being T&D losses and 66.7% being the end conversion losses in some crucial sectors like agricultural pump-sets. Energy efficiency measures should lead to conservation of precious energy resources.

Sustained Value Addition
R&D should expand to R&D3 meaning Research and “Development, Demonstration & Deployment”. Such a countenance would provide an orientation to take research activity right up to its logical end. R&D3 program would involve Research, Technology development, Engineering and Business Management strategies, all together with an integrated approach. India should see more and more innovations through the entire R&D3 chain in the 21st Century for maximization of indigenous value addition which would not only make the nation proud but would rapidly strengthen our economy.

Concluding Remarks
Rather poor “Techno-Economic-Environmental-Operational ethos” of our Power System calls for value orientation- a conscious introspection linking the present ills and shortcomings to the values and ethos and strategic envisioning of corrective measures. Values chartered above for producing a credible blue print of a formulated vision for India’s Electrical Power Sector can be of generic importance applicable to other sectors of development also, with due modifications.

Let us appreciate that value based introspection and corrective action planning are crucial for development.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)