This newsletter has been printed in partnership with Merino Industries.
Sustainability isn’t an finish function, this is a mindset. This philosophy is championed by way of Merino Industries Restricted (MIL), one of the vital international’s greatest producers of ornamental laminates, restroom booths, modular furnishings and surfacing answers. Their dedication to eco-friendly calories possible choices units a precedent for different industries on how operations may also be carried out with out harming the surroundings.
In keeping with Mr Prakash Lohia, CMD, Merino Industries, the transition from standard calories resources like fossil fuels to inexperienced possible choices has no longer been with out demanding situations. On the other hand, the important thing lies in enforcing measurable adjustments at each and every level of operation, he says.
That is the place the ‘Nirmal Sustainability Program’ steps in. The initiative is thoughtfully designed and catalyses Merino’s dedication to changing into a sustainable and accountable {industry}. The programme hinges on scaling industry expansion along societal prosperity and pro-environmental efforts.
With a laser focal point on greater utilisation of inexperienced calories, water conservation, air air pollution aid, round economic system, waste recycling, large-scale plantation, and the implementation of natural manure in agro-farming, the corporate is making an attempt to reach the overarching function of often decreasing its carbon footprint.
A dedication to eco-consciousness
Merino strives that wealth is generated with minimalistic hurt to the surroundings. To know the way it’s reaching this, it can be crucial to check out its ‘Triple Backside Line Framework’ that encompasses 3 key dimensions — Environmental, Social, and Monetary affects. Good fortune follows when each and every parameter is scaled in parallel to the opposite. Excellence lies on the convergence of economic system and sustainability, they imagine.
The ‘Nirmal Program’ guarantees that each and every side of our surroundings — Bhūmih (soil), Apah (water), Analah (hearth), Vayu (air), and Aakasha (house) are impacted undoubtedly whilst Merino makes strides as an {industry}.
However this eco-friendly paradigm shift isn’t one thing contemporary. Merino Industries has lengthy embraced eco-consciousness. Their five-decade-old dedication perspectives planet-friendly practices as an “inseparable a part of financial job”. And, the luck of those methods is clear. Merino has controlled to fulfill 75 % of its calories wishes via renewable/ non-fossil gas resources.
Mr Lohia highlights a three-pronged method that cleared the path to this success.
A trio of sustainable answers
The important thing to compelling holistic expansion in calories potency whilst transitioning to inexperienced fuels is to first establish the calories resources after which make a choice possible choices from in the community to be had, year-round choices, Mr Lohia explains. “For any production or processing unit, calories is essential. Maximum of our processing operations have been historically depending on fossil fuels, coal, or imported gases.”
On the other hand, as Merino Industries steadily shifted to extra eco-friendly choices, it used to be transparent that reliance on fossil fuels might be introduced down. This used to be step one of their three-pronged method.
Cut back dependency on fossil fuels
Combustion is a core commercial procedure, and Merino makes use of managed optimised combustion of any forged fuels — together with biomass to supply calories and fly ash, which is then used to make bricks. Incomplete combustion, which produces a lot of pollution, is have shyed away from.
“We use environment friendly latest-technology boilers and furnaces for managed combustion,” Mr Lohia explains. Biogenic fuels, corresponding to sawdust, rice husk, and biogas, represent nearly all of their biomass. The usage of those biofuels has a ton of benefits. Apart from the truth that their entire combustion does no longer produce a lot carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides, the biofuels additionally end up to be sustainable.
Mr Lohia explains that this owes to the truth that they’re sourced from proximal places. “This gets rid of long-distance transportation and thus reduces the carbon footprint. It additionally saves on treasured foreign currency — coal and processed herbal gases nonetheless must be imported — and thus supplies upper financial advantages to the providers who’re from the agro section,” he provides.
A portion of this waste could also be directed to waste-to-energy crops at the side of firewood and biomasses, the place complicated combustion applied sciences convert waste into thermal calories. Apart from those, the chimneys at Merino’s factories emit emissions devoid of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides (accountable for air air pollution and earth warming); making sure that the ambient air high quality is easily secure.
Whilst Merino Industries has been an early adopter of solar power, it has additionally been exploring renewable calories choices from wind crops. The have an effect on is notable. Within the fiscal 12 months 2023-24, most effective 18.2 % in their calories wishes have been met with fossil fuels, 7.2 % from State Electrical energy Forums (SEB) grids, and big 74.6 % from renewable resources. Through 2027, they target to exceed 90 % from non-fossil gas resources.
The corporate touched a milestone within the 2022-23 duration, making sure that 100% of the warmth calories required (12.64 Lakh GJ) on the Rohad and Hapur factories used to be produced in-house the use of boilers and secondary furnaces, basically from non-fossil fuels particularly rice husk and noticed mud.
Building up calories potency
Merino Industries is dedicated to reaching calories potency in each and every operation. Much less calories intake will have to yield extra output. “We continuously improve electric equipment, home equipment, and equipment, and herald progressed know-how for operations, utilities, and lighting fixtures programs,” Mr Lohia notes.
Conservation
Power awareness extends past factories to each and every place of business at Merino Industries. Purchasing and the use of energy-saving apparatus, machines, and equipment is essential to maintaining calories from the beginning. Herbal gentle is promoted, and automated lighting fixtures programs scale back guide intervention. “Conservation of calories is completed via an eco-conscious paintings tradition,” Mr Lohia explains, including that automation and staff training inspire accountable calories utilization.
A gold same old for industry-level sustainability
Attaining 100% calories from renewable resources within the processing {industry} for procedure warmth at Hapur and Rohad has been a difficult job on the {industry} point. On the other hand, Merino Industries’ achievements are important. Mr Lohia believes this would serve for instance for commercial institutions international. “It’s a large job to modify processes and mindsets. We’ve succeeded by way of doing the entirety indigenously,” he says.
He issues out that strategic funding selections, corresponding to making an investment in automation equipment and gear, have long-term payoffs. A tradition of calories awareness, from most sensible control to the ground, is a very powerful. Easy movements, like switching off needless lighting fixtures or air conditioners, are inspired.
Commercially, wealth should be created for stakeholders. At Merino Industries, that is accomplished sustainably, maximising the round economic system thought, and aligning with the UN Sustainable Building Objectives (SDGs). Those rules are championed throughout their 22 institutions, 5 factories, and 18 places of work.
A luck tale is scripted in how over 75,000 metric lots of GHG (greenhouse fuel) or tCO2e (metric lots of carbon dioxide similar) emissions in air have been stored within the reporting 12 months by way of utilising agro-residues (biogenic fuels) as an alternative of coal within the boilers of the producing amenities on the Rohad and Hapur plant of Merino.
Merino prides itself on participating with academia and integrating professional critiques of their commercial processes, as they try to align with sustainable targets. This sort of collaborations used to be with Visvesvaraya Nationwide Institute of Generation (VNIT, Nagpur). The latter assisted Merino’s in-house experience in assessing carbon footprint and accreditation as consistent with ISO requirements and in addition pitched in with insights on growing round economic system principle-based tasks of the Nirmal Program.
A inexperienced calories proposition
A piece of writing within the Financial Occasions (February 2024) highlighted a record by way of India Ranking and Analysis, noting that thermal energy represents 75 % of India’s general energy era. “Whilst many industries use thermal energy from fossil fuels, we’re a number of the first to experiment with biomass,” Mr Lohia notes. This is helping Merino Industries advertise inexperienced gas and toughen native communities in Hapur (Uttar Pradesh) and Rohad (Haryana) by way of making sure constant call for for agri-residues.
Apart from reaching calories potency the use of inexperienced fuels, Lohia says, “We even have generators at Hapur that extract calories from the biomass furnaces. Their potency is greater following some retrofitting processes. A an identical automation is finished for heating and cooling programs.”
He provides that the motors at Merino Industries were upgraded to IE3 know-how, which guarantees top rate potency whilst being environmentally pleasant. In the meantime, throughout the 10.59 MW solar energy device, roughly 12.77 million kWh gadgets {of electrical} calories are generated — which accounts for round 24 % of the full electric calories requirement.
Key options of Merino’s calories supply come with:
a) Procurement from the local people.
b) Manufacturing of round 1,000,000 gigajoules of calories (FY2023-24), assembly the warmth necessities of its processing gadgets in Hapur (Uttar Pradesh) and Rohad (Haryana) via entire combustion know-how.
c) Aid of GHG emissions by way of roughly 95,000 MT of CO2 similar, which might have in a different way been generated from burning fossil fuels like coal.
d) Pioneering using biomass since 2005 and turbine know-how in Hapur which extracts calories in electric shape.
This roadmap has guided Merino Industries achieve calories potency. Moreover, the corporate has expanded its focal point to water, air, and soil, basically depending on renewable assets and effort resources. Merino Industries is pursuing a ‘Water Neutrality Purpose’ via environment friendly water control practices, striving to scale back emissions, and enforcing measures to support air high quality whilst minimising greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions.
Mr Lohia notes that whilst any {industry} would try to maximise manufacturing in more land to be had, at Merino, inexperienced practices have all the time been the concern. This has resulted in the improvement of Miyawaki forests (multi-layered forests consisting of local plant species) at the campus at Hapur.
Recognising that timber are integral for blank air, habitat preservation, livelihoods, watershed coverage, soil erosion prevention, and local weather exchange mitigation, Merino has set a goal to extend inexperienced duvet each inside and out of doors manufacturing facility premises, resulting in the planting of over 20,000 tree saplings all over India all the way through 2023-2024.
The function is to adapt as an {industry} however to take action sustainably. Through mixing experience and assets, the corporate believes sure transformations may also be pushed in society. “Our sturdy trust is that by way of prioritising folks, the planet, and sustainable product choices, enterprises can thrive,” Mr Lohia concludes.
Edited by way of Pranita Bhat