Discover more about the compressor industry, how we can drive sustainable innovations, and power our green journey.   

Alexander Pavlov, General Manager, Compressor Technique, and Shalini Sharma, Head-Corporate Communications, Atlas Copco India, talk about what revolves around the intersection of compressor manufacturing and environmental responsibility. How can one power their green journey? Tune in.

Welcome to the Atlas Copco

India Podcast Episode Powering Your Green Journey,

where we explore innovations and success stories

in the world of sustainable solutions at Atlas Copco.

Today we embark on Atlas Copco India's remarkable Green Journey.

I'm Shalini your host for today.

And joining me is our special guest, Alexander Pavlov.

Welcome, Alex. Hello, Shalini.

Thank you for having me.

I'm absolutely delighted to be here recording our first podcast

and discuss more about our green journey at Atlas Copco, India.

Incredible.

To start off, Alex, you have now been here in India for a year.

Can you tell us a little more?

How has this first year been?

Well, I could tell a lot, but I believe

Shalini we are a bit limited in time.

In three words.

It's been an amazing experience, an adventure.

I met so many fantastic people at Atlas Copco and outside.

Been to so many different places, tried a lot of different food.

Business wise, I can only say that India is a country of huge opportunities

and I've been involved in so many massive projects.

Something I didn't really experience in my previous job.

Thank you. Coming to the green Journey.

You've lived and worked all of your life in Europe

and have now been here in India for the past year.

How do you see the comparison between sustainability, green initiatives

and the entire green journey between India and Europe?

Okay.

If we talk about the green journey,

then we can imagine the roads leading us from our current reality

to a beautiful green world of the future.

That road is certainly an uphill road

as there are many obstacles and setbacks on the way.

So sorry to say, but if I today place on that road, Europe and India,

then India would be quite behind somewhere in the beginning of the journey.

Not to criticize, of course.

So we all understand that the initial conditions were quite different.

A lot to be done in India, especially in power

generation, transport, sector, waste management.

Those are main contributors to the pollution and carbon emissions.

Manufacturing industry is another big source of pollution

and that's where we can really make a difference.

Unfortunately, what I see in India is that too many customers still buy

compressors purely on price and don't look at the longer term

impact on the carbon footprint and on their operational cost

as those two things always walk hand by hand.

Let's talk about this green journey for Atlas Copco compressors.

How do you see it and why are we suddenly talking so much about it?

Well, our commitment to

maximizing energy efficiency of our customers is not new.

However, today, more than ever, the whole world

is committed to transition to net zero manufacturing.

And we are one of the 2000 companies

who subscribed and fully commit to the science based targets.

If you're not familiar about the science based targets

for climate change, please Google it and read about.

Today.

We see with many companies that focus shifts from pure money talk

where again, energy saving solutions save

lots of money, but it shifts to the green benefits.

So customers ask how your solutions

can help us to reduce our carbon footprint

and then we can offer so much for world's most energy

efficient vs the and centrifugal compressors to energy, less air dryers,

nitrogen and oxygen generators, chillers, very efficient blowers,

energy recovery systems, steam boosters and expanders.

So today, Indian customers who already invested

in very efficient compressors call us and ask, Please Atlas Copco

help us with more ideas on how we can reduce emissions.

Can companies

actually do something to contribute without having to make hefty investments?

Very good question.

And the answer is yes, they can and we can help a lot there.

In Atlas Copco, we have our biggest division,

which is dedicated exclusively to the aftermarket and service.

They're on top of regular preventive

maintenance with genuine spare parts, which is, by the way,

extremely important to maximize the efficiency of compressors.

We offer remote monitoring, energy audits, leak detection services, energy

recovery and control systems, all to optimize the existing installation

without replacing or adding the new compressors.

That sounds impressive.

So what is your personal favorite solution from Atlas Copco

as many solutions to help customers in their green journey?

Well, 20 years ago I started in Atlas Copco in Belgium as a project manager

for remote monitoring, something what is called the Internet of Things.

We call it the Atlas Copco Smart Link.

So we were pioneering those solutions 20 years ago.

Today, globally, we have about 300,000 compressors connected to that system.

And then I was a product manager also for control systems, for central controllers.

It's unbelievable how much savings can be achieved by simply

adding a central controller to a big compressor installation.

So those monitoring and control solutions are my favorite.

I also believe that energy recovery systems allowing you

to get hot water from air compressor for free.

Yeah, those systems are very much underrated today.

Again, to achieve ambitious green targets for the manufacturer in industry,

we have to recuperate as much heat as possible

instead of wasting it. Talking about our own operations

What do you think are the most significant steps

that we've taken to reduce the carbon footprint from our own operations?

Well, today in India, our biggest factory covers

80% of its electricity demand from the solar panels on the roof.

Actually, 80% is the maximum, according to Indian legislation.

I don't really understand why it cannot be 100% anyway.

Electricity that we source for most of our sites in India is also green

from from green sources,

and we have been focusing on it a lot during the last years.

We introduce bus routes for our employees in Pune

and we investigate regarding adding electric cars

into our fleet and in manufacturing process

we carefully select our suppliers as we expect that they should also focus

a lot on the reduction of carbon emissions as we do ourselves.

Now, Alex, let's talk about your personal green journey.

Can you tell us about some of the actions you've taken in your personal life

that contribute to making the environment and planet more sustainable?

Well, for me personally, it's a major shift

has to do with electric cars.

Before coming to India, I lived in England and in 2018

I exchanged my diesel company car to a plug in hybrid.

That battery had only 30 kilometers range,

but for my daily commuting it was just enough.

So west majority of time I was driving on battery.

It was a great experience and zero pollution

as my electricity at home was supplied from a renewable source.

That was my first step into that world of EV.

And in 2020 I exchange that car to a full electric car

with 450 kilometers range.

So since then, I never, ever had to thank my car

and was enjoying clean but really powerful driving.

Thank you so much, Alex, for your time and for the insights

and personal examples that you've shared with us today.

Thank you, Shalini.

Thank you for this talk and really look forward

to new episodes of the Powering Your Green Journey podcast.