The year 2017 for Corporate Sustainability
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While the new year brings new hope and new opportunities for It is imperative for corporates to cut down energy and water consumption as a way to delink business growth from resource consumption. While manufacturing industries will be affected heavily due to lack of basic resources, it is matter of human sustenance for the people intensive services industry. While there are several challenges, the situation also needs to be perceived as an opportunity to become a smarter and more efficient society overall by challenging the status quo and through continuous innovation.
Automation: Automation is common in industrial processes and is widely used for optimization. But automation is rarely used in buildings for optimization purpose. With rapid urbanization and growing cities, there is a huge addition of buildings and an opportunity to make them smart. Automation can help greatly in ensuring efficiencies of equipment, efficient operation of building systems and provide analysis on health of equipment. The power of automation is yet to be realized fully by many corporates owning large amounts of space for offices, retail, etc. Automation can be used for scheduling of equipment, measuring efficiencies real time, running the right algorithms based on different conditions available and sending alerts to operations personnel if any operational parameter going out of range. Automation can help in tuning different systems like AC, lighting, etc. according to user needs thereby ensuring comfort.
Going Off grid: With the costs of solar PV reducing significantly over the years and grid power supply being unreliable, it is an opportune time for corporates to look at renewable energy options either onsite or through a third party generator. This can reduce load on the grid and at the same time ensure lower carbon footprint for the corporate.
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Collaboration: Corporate sustainability should go beyond the boundaries of corporates and should impact the society at large. Corporates should engage actively with each other and with the governments in policy making so that we have updated and more stringent policies related to resources consumption and environmental protection. Codes like the National Building Code, Energy Conservation Building Code, etc. should have active participation and involvement of corporates to promote the cause of resource conservation. The problems of today can only be solved through
A commitment from the top management of corporates is essential to ensure a culture of environmental sustainability. Rather than compulsion, today environmental sustainability is a need for everyone and an obligation for the corporates to ensure their sustenance and moreover ensure a healthy future for generations to come.
(This article is authored by Guruprakash Sastry, Regional Manager – Infrastructure, Infosys)
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