ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND AUDIT

The fundamental goal of energy management is to produce goods and provide services with the least cost and least environmental effect.

“The strategy of adjusting and optimizing energy, using systems and procedures so as to reduce energy requirements per unit of output while holding constant or reducing total costs of producing the output from these systems”

The objective of Energy Management is to achieve and maintain optimum energy procurement and utilization, throughout the organization and:

To minimize energy costs / waste without affecting production & quality

To minimize environmental effects.

Need for Energy Audit

In any industry, the three top operating expenses are often found to be energy (both electrical and thermal), labour and materials. If one were to relate to the manageability of the cost or potential cost savings in each of the above components, energy would invariably emerge as a top ranker, and thus energy management function constitutes a strategic area for cost reduction. Energy Audit will help to understand more about the ways energy and fuel are used in any industry, and help in identifying the areas where waste can occur and where scope for improvement exists.

The Energy Audit would give a positive orientation to the energy cost reduction, preventive maintenance and quality control programmes which are vital for production and utility activities. Such an audit programme will help to keep focus on variations which occur in the energy costs, availability and reliability of supply of energy, decide on appropriate energy mix, identify energy conservation technologies, retrofit for energy conservation equipment etc.

In general, Energy Audit is the translation of conservation ideas into realities, by lending technically feasible solutions with economic and other organizational considerations within a specified time frame.

The primary objective of Energy Audit is to determine ways to reduce energy consumption per unit of product output or to lower operating costs. Energy Audit provides a “ bench-mark” (Reference point) for managing energy in the organization and also provides the basis for planning a more effective use of energy throughout the organization.

Benchmarking and Energy Performance

Benchmarking of energy consumption internally (historical / trend analysis) and externally (across similar industries) are two powerful tools for performance assessment and logical evolution of avenues for improvement. Historical data well documented helps to bring out energy consumption and cost trends month-wise / day-wise. Trend analysis of energy consumption, cost, relevant production features, specific energy consumption, help to understand effects of capacity utilization on energy use efficiency and costs on a broader scale. External benchmarking relates to inter-unit comparison across a group of similar units.

Particulars As Per The Companies (Disclosure Of Particulars In The Report Of Board Of Directors) Rules, 1988 And Forming Part Of The Directors’ Report For The Year Ended 31St March, 2010

Conservation of Energy

The Company has always been conscious of the need for conservation of energy and has been steadily making progress towards this end. Energy conservation initiatives have been implemented at all the plants and offices of the Company by undertaking numerous energy conservation projects.

(A) During the year, the Company has taken the following initiatives for conservation of energy:

(i) Engineering Initiatives

Modification in equipments like oil pumps and motors coupled with system optimizations to reduce energy consumption.

Replacement of higher HP motor with lower HP.

Installation of heat pumps, metal halide lamps instead of sodium and mercury vapor lamps.

Installation of natural draft cooling towers instead of induced draft cooling systems.

Installation of capacitor banks, automatic timer circuits for lights and fans.

Installation of heat recovery system at ED oven.

Shift to LPG Heating from Electric Heating.

(ii) Process Improvement

Cycle time reduction of various manufacturing processes.

Improving capacity utilization of cylinder head washing units.

Modifying furnace charging sequence.

Optimizing temperature settings of air conditioners considering seasonal changes.

Modification of Air Handling Ducts in paint shop to optimise use of Air Blower power consumption.

(iii) Initiatives Generating Awareness on Energy Consumption

Display of sustainability posters at workplace.

Idea generation campaign for electrical energy saving.

Celebration of Energy Conservation Day on 14th December, 2009 followed by Energy Conservation Week between 14th December, 2009 to 21st December, 2009.

Setting up of Stalls inside the Plant premises for awareness of Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy Products.

Reward and recognition for energy saving projects.

(B) Additional investments and proposals, if any, being implemented for reduction of consumption of energy:

Waste heat recovery projects in paint shops.

Improvement in efficiency of central air conditioning units.

Explore application of efficient lighting (LED, Magnetic coupled).

Use of renewable energy (Solar and Wind).

(C) Impact of the measures at (a) & (b) above for reduction of energy consumption and consequent impact on the cost of production of goods:

The measures taken have resulted in lower energy consumption. In the Automotive Division, theSpecific Power consumption per equivalent vehicle improved by 15% over the previous year. For the same period, the Farm Equipment Sector achieved an improvement of 3.21% per equivalent tractor.

The work done by your Company has received recognition in the form of a number of National and State level awards.