Abstract
TOWARDS CARBON NEUTRALITY IN TATA COMMUNICATIONS (A NEW PARADIGM IN INDUSTRY‟S CONTRIBUTION TO MINIMIZING ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT)
Nikhil Barman and Dr. B.S.K. Naidu*
ABSTRACT
In today?s scenario of threatening climate change, Industry has responsibility of being carbon-neutral. The paper proposes introspective methods that would result in the reduction of carbon emissions caused by Tata Communications Ltd. (TCL) in Maharashtra Region. The Tata Group, with operations in more than 100 countries across six continents, can create an example by attempting to make one of TCL?s Regions carbon-neutral. Scope of carbon emission caused by the industry was figured out according to the ?GHG protocol Corporate Standard? of the World Business Council on Sustainable- Development. It came to light that the major ?Carbon Foot Print? was indirect due to electric power usage in the company and direct from the usage of fuel for power backup. In TATA Communications 90% of the Carbon Emission is due the usage of power. Therefore efficient power consumption and sourcing power from carbon-free mainsprings of energy were found crucial. All aspects of Energy efficiency in Data Centers to reduce electricity consumption, offsetting it with non-conventional green power like solar, wind and hydro to the extent possible, replacing High Speed diesel by Bio-diesel in the back-up power system, offsetting carbon by replacing conventional vehicles by battery powered vehicles chargeable from solar panels, Tele-presence Services to optimize Business Travel and sinking carbon through afforestation of the Campus have all been considered. At Tata Communications, the target of achieving carbon neutrality seems possible if most of their input power can be tied up with (carbon free) Hydro. ?Tata Hydro? has an installed hydro capacity of 576 MW in Maharashtra itself. While the other measures dealt with in this paper may make contribution towards Carbon Neutrality in their own magnitude, 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.
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