Ingersoll Rand presents great opportunities for growth through customer focused innovations that improve the quality of life and environment, including many that advance sustainable business practices. We provide products and services that help customers reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore help minimize the effects of climate change. At the same time, we are working to reduce the energy footprint of our own operations.
We launched the Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in 2010 to further drive energy efficiency and sustainability into our innovation pipeline, manufacturing operations and employee education initiatives. A non-profit entity, the Center for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability constitutes a dedicated team of experts who work with outside partners to shape the vision of sustainability for Ingersoll Rand and other organizations on issues that range from customer-driven green innovation to facility operations.
In India and across the world, Ingersoll Rand is involved with organizations that are making a difference in the world such as Red Cross, Alliance to Save Energy, Forum for the Future, USGBC (US Green Building Council) IGBC (Indian Green Building Council), UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), United Way, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) etc.
To further solidify our social engagement strategy, we launched the “Social Convergence” initiative. This initiative entails converging multiple technologies and applications from various organizations and delivering a comprehensive solution to improve the living standards of the societies where Ingersoll Rand operates.
Products and Solutions providedby Ingersoll rand help customers meet their sustainability goals (reducing emissions, reducing energy costs, using products that are engineered to reduce material waste, or constructing a green building). We undertook various initiatives in 2013 for this.
Enabling sustainable buildings
Trane (the flagship brand of Ingersoll Rand) provided Godrej, one of India’s largest industrial conglomerates, with its HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) equipment and management systems for the Godrej Bhavan office building in Mumbai.
The Godrej Bhavan had a clear focus on energy efficiency upgrades or retrofits. The building that was once facing soaring electricity costs has now managed to save more than 25%, with the retrofit upgrades installed utilizing the Trane Building Energy ManagementSystem, a leading energy efficiency solution that is a part of Ingersoll Rand’s one of many commercial climate solution offerings. By upgrading their building management systems, Godrej Bhavan building in Mumbai is a perfect example of high performing office spaces with a clear focus on energy saving strategies.
Other sustainable solutions by Ingersoll Rand:
First of its kind in the country, the B 100, truck refrigeration unit is battery operated powered by the vehicle’s engine. It is a great fuel saver and the company is also exploring use of renewable energy to drive parts of the cold chain and free it from dependence on conventional sources.
Evolution range of compressors provide key benefits including low maintenance cost, efficient cooling, better control with real time access and more air flow (CFM) with less power consumption (kW); hence, delivering greater productivity and energy efficiency.
TraneAir Conditioners address critical needs for clean and comfortable air, secure homes and buildings wherebyenabling energy efficiency and sustainable business practices through its energy saving capabilities.
Sustainable Habitat program
The Sustainable Habitat program is an initiative by which Ingersoll Rand is collaborating with the larger community to help design a solution that will innovatively address the housing needs of emerging economies while optimizing both natural and financial resources. Creating ‘Sustainable Habitats’ will consider these factors to conserve natural resources and yet provide comfort, safety and security to communities.
We propose to build a set of low cost dwellings on our campus in Bangalore that will utilize sustainable materials, solar technologies, water sanitation technologies, hygiene creation trainings and possibly low cost security solutions by Ingersoll Rand. This habitat will incorporate the most sustainable, cost effective technologies and materials around the world to create a set of 5 sustainable dwellings essentially for the weaker sections of the society in emerging economies. The model habitat will gradually become a reference site for the ideal sustainable low cost habitat program for Governments in India and other emerging countries.
What the future holds:
At Ingersoll Rand, we have not only built an organization-wide culture of innovation, we also collaborate extensively with the external world to investigate new technologies and create path breaking solutions. We are proud of the progress we have made in the area of sustainability which helps support our customers in their undertaking to improve their sustainability score and in 2014 too; we will continue to invest our efforts on the same. We hope to see more public private partnerships enabling collaboration and convergence of energies towards a more sustainable environment.
By Swati Bhattacharya, vice president – Corporate Relations and Public Affairs at Ingersoll Rand in India