Grundfos encouraging water and energy conservation

August 11, 2014 12:45 pm

“Not only our products are energy efficient and consume less water, we also are involved in many endeavours which help create awareness about water and energy conservation,” informs Mahathi Parashuram, Head – Public Affairs, Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd.
 Grundfos India provides pumps and pumping solutions for various applications including heating and hot water service systems, cooling and air-conditioning systems, industrial applications, pressure boosting and liquid transfer, groundwater supply, domestic water supply, sewage and wastewater, dosing, chlorination systems, disinfection systems and pumps running on renewable energy. Ms Parashuram explains how the company is trying to create awareness about water and energy conservation.
Grundfos Growing Globally Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. (Grundfos India) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grundfos Holdings. Grundfos India is responsible for sales of Grundfos products in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives. Aligning to its global sustainability focus, Grundfos India is committed to sustainability.
“Not only our products are energy efficient and consume less water, we also are involved in many endeavours which help create awareness about water and energy conservation,” informs Ms Parashuram. “Grundfos India is working towards helping Indian industries and corporates save both energy and water not only through its highly energy efficient products but also through the energy and water audits it conducts. These audits are a complete system analysis of the energy and water consumption. Post the analysis the energy audit team recommends the best solutions to right size the systems; thereby helping conserve both these resources.”
Grundfos has further strengthened its offerings with Grundfos iSOLUTIONS, an approach to creating the innovative solutions for its customers, based on their unique demands. The company also has solar pump offerings for rural and agricultural applications to help address the lack of electricity in some of these locations. Since 2001, Grundfos has sold 8,800 solar pumps and this has had a positive impact on the socio-economic lives of so many villagers throughout India. It also conducts water and energy audit for companies thereby helps them conserve these resources.
Last fiscal got affected“Like most industries, the pump industry was affected by the economic slowdown last fiscal. Grundfos has also been affected by the same factors as other industries,” says Ms Parashuram. “However, from a long-term basis, the pump market has immense growth potential due to factors such as increasing demand for water combined, declining per capita water availability, and investments in infrastructure, industrialisation and urbanisation.”
Current focus“We want to increase our market share across the segments that we have product offerings. We are focusing on higher localisation and exports too with some products ‘made in India for India’, which we expect will contribute to growth in the coming years,” says Ms Parashuram.
The company aims to increase its presence in the price sensitive domestic pump market with the Italian brand ‘DAB’ – which will cost lower compared to Grundfos. Moreover, Grundfos India is also looking at expanding its distribution network in the coming years.
Major initiatives takenGrundfos India has been in India for more than 15 years now and its steady growth and increase in market share speaks lot about the acceptance of high quality and energy efficient pumps in the country.
The company also contributes towards energy and water conservation by reducing its own impact on the environment. Its headquarters in Chennai is India’s first gold-rated green building (LEED certification by USGBC in 2005) and is energy efficient with 100 per cent recycling of the sewage, rain water harvesting and with solar collectors and photovoltaics. Grundfos India’s factory also received the gold certification in 2011 from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). In August 2013, the Grundfos office building was elevated to a LEED EB Platinum certification.
“We were the first ones to introduce the concept of Low Life Cycle (LLC) since early 2000. As pioneers in water technology and pumping solutions, we will continue to raise the industry standards through our innovative and sustainable products,” assurers Ms Parashuram.
In addition, it is also working with students from elementary schools to universities to spread awareness on sustainability (energy and water conservation). The company encourages school visits to its facility to showcase the Green Building concept. Grundfos India has been successful in reaching out to 503,000 students since 2010. Through these students the company is influencing their family, friends and communities to conserve water.