HFS Highlight: TCS embeds sustainability in the benefits of technology

TCS recently launched Clever Energy, enterprise-level energy and emission management system. Part of the need to make sustainability native to businesses. It is often complex to understand energy performance factors and influencers in large organizations as they are diverse in their functions and operations, and geographical spread. This greatly affects an organization’s ability to miss. It will make informed decisions without compromising their business needs, driving energy conservation initiatives to recognize cost-saving and shift them towards net zero-emission. Better-informed decisions are made through technology combinations across multiple business functions—and as sustainability becomes a must-have versus a nice-to-have, cognitive technologies like the internet of things (IoT), Edge, AI, analytics, and cloud are showing how sustainability can be inherent to both technology and the business value it can promote. Clever Energy™is one new solution in an expanding ecosystem of sustainability technology solutions and services—providing real-time energy data across the different source of energy (including water, air, gas, electricity, & steam), it connects heterogeneous systems (including Building management systems, PLC, SCADA, Smart Meters, Historian etc.) to create an integrated view of enterprises’ energy consumption—alongside forecasting of supply and demand—that has for some time been a critical part of enterprise efficiency efforts.

As enterprises roadmap towards being zero-carbon, many find they lack the expertise, data, and technology to implement their strategies  

Many enterprises also lack the transparency into their operations to measure carbon footprints: the fundamental first step in building a roadmap. Every facet of a business contributes to its emissions footprint and is impacted by sustainability initiatives across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) forms. This is all the more reason to make sustainability native to the businesses and technologies that help achieve a win-win of sustainability and value.

TCS Clever Energy™ provides a comprehensive platform covering the varied energy functions of an organization that includes heating and cooling (HVAC system), process energy optimization, Asset Energy Optimization using Energy Digital Twin, demand response, intelligent tariff management, Carbon Management and sustainability compliances. Clever Energy™ built a Digital Twin setup and AI/ML-based data models with augmented intelligence provides an integrated energy view, enabling organizations to make informed decisions through predictive analytics and help them be energy efficient.

TCS realized energy savings of 10% Y-o-Y for the past four years; the entire setup is monitored, managed, and controlled from TCS’s remote energy management centre at Kochi. The broader package is outlined in Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 1: TCS’ Clever Energy solution benefits

Source: TCS, 2021

“TCS Clever Energy is a holistic solution that uses data science-based asset energy twins and prediction and forecasting models leveraging in-built AI/ ML algorithms to provide actionable insights on energy demand and consumption, carbon emissions, and asset energy performance.”

Regu Ayyaswamy, Global Head, Internet of Things and Engineering & Industrial Services, TCS

Bottom line: TCS Clever Energy adds yet another solution to the rapidly growing ecosystem of sustainability solutions. Sustainability must be made a native part of businesses—rather than a standalone strategy; it must also become a native part of technology solutions—if there’s any chance of reaching net-zero. The more sustainability becomes embedded in cloud, AI, and IoT solutions and services, the better this chance becomes.