Volkswagen India to reduce water and energy usage

Volkswagen India have announced its plans to cut energy and water consumption at its Pune production facility. With the installation of the high-volume low-speed fans, the energy consumption at the German auto major's manufacturing plant is expected to go down by 436 megawatt hour per year, while the reduction of water usage at the plant, by 1,636 cubic meter annually. The 436 megawatt hour energy savings amounts to annual energy consumption of around 120 Indian households.

"The new HVLS fans installed at our Pune plant have resulted in further successful reduction of energy and water consumption. In addition to the environmental benefits, we have also ensured improved working conditions with cooler floors," Volkswagen India plant head and executive director for technical Andreas Lauenroth said in the release.

"Think Blue. Factory' focuses on efficiency improvements in production and the expansion of environmentally aware energy supplies, and addresses all employees at the plants” release added.

The 11 new HVLS fans installed at the production line in the plant, would replace air handling units and ambiators. These new fans are equipped with built-in variable frequency drive to suit all seasons and thus help in lowering down the energy consumption as per requirement.

Under the 2012-started ’Think Blue. Factory' initiative, Volkswagen aims at reducing 25 percent per-car impact on environment due to manufacturing processes by 2018. And as many as 27 Volkswagen production facilities across the world aim at the same. This reduction is measured across key areas of energy, water, waste and CO2. The German auto major seeks to spread broad public awareness for sustainable actions and encourage everyone to play an active role. The initiative not only focuses on the development of eco-friendly technologies and efficient production processes, but also aims to address social and cultural issues.