On the eve of 'World Environment Day', Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker, announced its comprehensive environment strategy that focusses on slashing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of its models as well as at its plants.
Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Maruti Suzuki, Shinzo Nakanishi, said on the occasion, “We have a well thought-out plan to minimise resource use, to become a greener Company and safeguard the environment. As we expand our business and put in newer facilities, our focus will be to adopt and invest in new environment friendly technologies and practices to minimise the impact of our business on the environment.”
The major areas of concern in the new environment-sensitive approach adopted by Maruti Suzuki include reducing carbon footprint at its factories and deploying eco-friendly technologies. Besides these, the car maker will also attempt to reduce the GHG emissions of its models through better mileage and will work in collaboration with the government to lay down sound policies in this regard.
Through constant innovation and by employing more economical methods at its plants, Maruti will try to put a cork on carbon footprint of the operations. In the past, this method has generated fruitful results. To illustrate, over the last five years, Manesar witnessed a 30 per cent reduction in the power consumed by each car. Gurgaon too saw the same amount of fall in power consumption by cars over the last 10 years. Energy efficiency is a field in which the company is determined to put in some serious efforts and it will be evident at its new establishments like Manesar Plant C. The vendor partners of Maruti Suzuki are also being encouraged and assisted by the company to utilise the energy efficient technology. Of the company's Tier I supplier network, 66 per cent comply with the ISO 14001 standards and have been certified by the same. By the end of 2012-13, the car maker aims at take this figure to 100 cent per cent.
In order to bring down the GHG emissions at its manufacturing plants, the leading car maker has sworn to utilise contemporary and economical technologies. This includes 100 per cent LED usage at its Manesar plant B (operational since September 2011), which is the first plant in the country to use the technology. With this, Plant B of the Manesar facility is far more energy efficient compared to others, including plant A, which has been operational since February 2006. It also emphasises upon using natural gas to reduce CO2 emissions and using solar heaters for street lighting etc.
For power generation, Maruti Suzuki has installed a steam driven system which works on steam from the waste heat recovered from gas turbines. In order to use a clean source of energy to supplement its operations, the company emphasises upon extensive utilisation of solar energy. Besides all these, an energy audit team has been assembled by the company at its Gurgaon facility. This team will pinpoint the high energy consuming equipments and machinery and replace them with more eco-friendly substitutes.
With a host of new models being introduced in the market, the car-maker is making sure that they feature next-generation powertrain technologies which reduce emissions and provide better mileage. By utilising a few innovative weight reduction techniques and modifying the aerodynamics, company engineers achieved better efficiencies in the new Swift and new Swift DZire. They also succeeded in lowering the emissions to 4-5 per cent on every kilometre in these models. Unlike other Multi Utility Vehicles (MUVs) in the segment, the recently-launched Ertiga offers an unmatched mileage of 20.77 kmpl, thus pioneering the concept of eco-friendly people movers.
In order to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in the country, the company has extended all its support in favour of the government to lay down a solid policy infrastructure. On the other hand, in order to introduce corporate fleet emission standards for 2015 and 2020, it is jointly working with the government. Much before the End of Vehicle Life norms are to be introduced in the country, Maruti has already adhered to the same in its vehicles. Harmful substances like mercury, lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium have been completely eliminated from its models with the assistance of its suppliers.
