HCL's energy conservation initiatives

HCL eco Safe Policy clearly recognizes the importance of products that are energy efficient and help customers cut costs of ownership and attain broader goals of protecting the environment. All our products have been incorporated with Green PC features and ACPI mode for power saving.

All our manufacturing facilities practice various measure to reduce power consumption by using natural light during daytime, installing different capacities DG sets that consumes optimum amount of diesel as per required load.

HCL strongly advocates that India needs Energy Efficiency 'regulations' for future industrial and economic growth.

Today, our country's per capita emissions are only a fraction of those in developed countries. By foreseeing the level of industrial growth in the near future, HCL strongly advocates that India needs Energy Efficiency 'regulations' for future industrial and economic growth. On account of global warming and the acute energy shortage faced by our nation, HCL has committed towards

· Quantifying our carbon foot print and measures towards the reduction of same

· Organising tree plantation programme to combat greenhouse gas emissions

· Strongly supports all the initiatives of the Indian Government in favour of GHG emission reductions

HCL policy in support of GHG reduction

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development highlighted the need and action plan to regulate Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions which have a direct impact on climate change. Under the Kyoto Protocol, signatory countries are required to reduce their combined GHG emissions by 5% from 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

India signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002. Though India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, however it is supposed to gain from the treaty in the form transfer of technology and other investments measures. Since India has obligation towards the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, hence HCL fully supports this position. India maintains that the major responsibility to curb the emissions rests with developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a period of time.

With growing pace of Indian economy, HCL visualizes the future and would take proactive action towards the Kyoto protocol. HCL is fully committed to reduce its GHG emissions within a certain timeframe. HCL, as a policy, supports Kyoto Protocol by acting as a proactive player to reduce the GHG emissions. HCL would support a low carbon economy and would take measures to cut its own direct emissions to start with. To visualize this vision, HCL already had taken measures to use energy efficient products both directly and indirectly. HCL has participated in many Government/Industry initiated programmes on GHG reduction.

HCL would work towards a low carbon economy and therefore demands from Government of India to have Energy Efficiency Regulations. HCL would proactively work with all stockholders including Government and industry to make level playing field on Energy Efficiency Regulations.

Detail Report Below

Carbon Footprint disclosure

Own GHG emissions reduction commitment

Energy Saving Measures Taken During 2008-2009 at other locations of HCL

Amounts of renewable energy used

Energy efficiency of new models

Energy-Star Product-line from HCL

Integration of environment management processes in manufacturing facilities.

Carbon Footprint disclosure

Primary to HCL's strategy to reduce the environmental impact of its operations is its commitment to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon footprint. HCL has commenced working towards accomplishing this commitment. In order to conform to the requirements of international reporting, more robust data and management systems will be developed by HCL as delineated in the various protocols and accepted standards. Presently HCL is developing a consolidated plan to account for its Greenhouse Gas emissions across all units and operations under HCL Infosystems.

HCL will report its GHG emissions based on:

. The guidelines provided by "The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard", revised edition, 2004.
. "Sustainability Reporting Guidelines: G3", published by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), 2006 and
. Relevant provisions of ISO 14064 on "Greenhouse Gas Quantification, Reporting and Verification" - Greenhouse gases - Part 1: Specification for the quantification, monitoring and reporting of organization emissions and removals

GHG emissions under Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 will be reported by HCL containing:
. Scope 1: Production of electricity, heat, or steam, physical or chemical processing / manufacture
. Scope 2: GHG emissions from imports of electricity, heat, or steam
. Scope 3: Indirect emissions

HCL will strive to use measured data for all operations and facilities that have the least uncertainty. In order to achieve that accuracy HCL will put in efforts to collect primary data at the unit level in line with the applicable GHG Initiatives Protocol and to conduct external verification of reported emissions under the above mentioned scopes to increase the accuracy of its GHG accounting system. At present the GHG footprint is based on estimates.

HCL: Scope1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions breakdown below:

Own GHG emissions reduction commitment

HCL has initiated a process of GHG accounting throughout its business operation and is pro-actively identifying opportunities for GHG mitigation and reduction in carbon foot print. This process will lead to setting of internal emission reduction targets and also enable structuring of projects under the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Examples of energy saving initiatives:

In out Pantnagar plant, we have implemented the following energy saving measures during 2006 and 2007:

# We monitor our power consumption daily to detect abnormal increase

# We maintain our equipment on a monthly basis to ensure it does not consume higher power than normal

# We practice switching off power consuming equipment when not required

# We use natural light for general lighting during daytime

# We use energy efficient metal halide, CFL lamps and electronic ballast for all lights which reduces power consumption

# No pumps have to be used for water withdrawal, since we have constructed an artisan bore well

# We installed different capacities of Diesel Generator sets to optimize diesel consumption. Diesel Generator sets are used as a back-up if GRID power is not available

# We use spot air conditioning as per requirement, instead of continuous, complete air-conditioning

# We have installed hot air exhaust systems in our Reliability Testing area, and under deck insulation in our production hall to reduce the AC requirement

# We have replaced AC with fans in our customer inspection area

# We have installed sun film on window glasses to reduce the heat load

# Through the installation of a capacitor bank, power consumption is reduced further

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Energy Saving Measures Taken During 2008-2009 at other locations of HCL

• We have replaced 1715 nos (240 in Mumbai, 45 in Jaipur, 50 in Kolkata and rest at Noida offices) of Fluorescent tube lights and copper chokes with energy efficient T-5 lights and electronic chokes.
  Energy consumed by FTL = 90 VA
  Energy consumed by T-5 = 32 VA
  Saving per light = 58VA
  Total saving per month = 58/1000 x 1715 nos x 10 hr/day x 25days/month= 24867 units/month
• We have replaced 382 nos of CRT monitors with LCD monitors at Noida office.
  Energy consumed by CRT= 0.65 A
  Energy consumed by LCD monitor = 0.2 A
  Total saving per month=0.45 x 220 V/1000 x 382 x 9 hr/day x 25 days/month= 8509 units/month
• We are switching off light at HCL offices at 7 pm, thrice per week. This has been a strict rule or all HCL offices since October 2008.
• At our UMO factory, we r switching off UPS at night and holidays, we have programmed conveyor lines to stop when not required, and we have replaced incandescent bulbs with CFL. Resultant saving is 8634 units/month.
• At PMO factory, we have replaced 91 nos of 250 w metal halide lamps with 125w lamps. Resultant saving is 2958 units/month.
• At Mumbai and Cochin office, we switch off AC units during lunch period. 1:30 to 2:30 pm daily.
• At Pune office, we do not need to switch on light during daytime, as sufficient natural light comes through windows.

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Amounts of renewable energy used

Because of efficient green building design at Pune office, we do not need to switch on light during day time, as sufficient natural light comes through window. We have installed solar water heaters for our training centre in Hyderabad. Right now, we are in the process of evaluating our percentage of total energy requirements catered through renewable sources. Also, steps are in place to increase the use of solar power at factory locations.

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Energy efficiency of new models

HCL Infosystems follows 2 steps for improving the energy efficiency of its green PC models:

1.   Choosing the right hardware for a green PC (e.g. using motherboards with Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) technology), and using more efficient power supplies (ES 4.0 and ES 5.0)

2.   Setting the right tuning of the software to support green computing

These methods have resulted in energy conservation of 20 to 33 % for our green PC models (depending on the model) and 75 % for the monitors.

The entire range of HCL products has ACPI mode for power savings, as well as UL certification for safety.

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Energy-Star Product-line from HCL

ENERGY STAR 4.0: HCL registered its first products for Energy Star 4.0 certifications in August 2007. Since then, we have so far achieved ES 4.0 compliance for 702 computer systems; 50 among them in the Notebook/Tablet category and the rest 652 in the Desktop category. In all these models, ES 4.0 was a standard fitment. The details of these models are as follows:


ES 4.0 compliant products-list of HCL

ENERGY STAR 5.0: Our Products-team was aware about the Energy Star 5.0 standards from past few months, and we had been communicating with our suppliers/vendors for the same in a pro-active manner. Consequently, today we have a total of 204 Desktop models which are ES 5.0 certified. In all of these models, ES 5.0 has been incorporated as a standard Fitment. The details are as follows:


ES 5.0 compliant products-list of HCL.

Since July 2009, 55 % of all HCL computers models are ES 5.0 compliant and are listed on Energy Star website.

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Integration of environment management processes in manufacturing facilities.

• We are actively pursuing customers to opt for our ES products.
• Rainwater harvesting system.
• E-mail facility and Intranet facility for e-documents.
• Area for green belt and landscaping to generate dust free and cool microclimate.
• Good House keeping and human safety processes to create conducive environment for world-class manufacturing facility.
• Usage of Expanded Polyethylene (EPE ) buffer (?) which is recyclable and bio degradable.
• No usage of polyethylene less than 20 microns.
• Reuse / disposal / recycling of scraps (other that EEE) through authorized scarp dealers.
• All WEEE generated across all HCL facilities is directed to our recycling agency or is sent back to the test and repair centers for reuse.
• Use of recyclable packing materials in PCs & Monitors.
• Made S3 as the default sleep state in all the product shipped with Microsoft Windows OS, so that the product enters into standby state automatically after specified amount of system in activity
• Compliance to MPR-II certification for CRT monitors
• Compliance to TCO’03 certification for LCD monitors
• Initiated actions for moving to SMPS with active or passive power factor correction
• Initiated actions for moving in to 80plus high efficiency SMPS as option
• Adopting new generation Intel’s low power consuming CPU’s and offering it to the customer as an option
• Adopted DDR2 memories in almost all the products lowering the power consumption
• Sourcing cabinets in SKD form and assembling in house, allowed us to increase the number of units per pallet, which translated into less energy required to ship each cabinet.
• Except special products, all the product manuals moved to e-manual in CDROM reducing paper consumption
• Display devices shipments shifted from cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors to flat panel displays significantly leading to less material use per unit. Flat panel display typically uses 40 to 50% less (by weight) materials when compared to conventional CRT screen and requires approximately 60% less energy in use.

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