Archive for the ‘CSR’ Category

The ‘personal’ power factor!

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

For most people, many facts related to several things don’t make sense unless the facts have something extremely personal for them. The reason why the thought of associating with a great cause almost never crosses our minds is because the cause doesn’t have a direct personal effect on us. We are humans and we are selfish. However, if every human being thought that way, we wouldn’t have had initiatives like Green Peace or Earth Hour. This time under CSR, lets explore some such impersonal facts that make sense only when we view them closely and more personally

Take for example the facts about what inspired Earth Hour in 2008. When 2.2 million homes and 2100 businesses in Sydney turned off their lights for one hour on March 31, 2008, it reduced the city’s energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour.
Now how does it affect me? You would say. What if someone told you that this 10.2% energy consumption means taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year! Suddenly the thought of your favourite car dawns on you.

You would find it difficult in comprehending the fact that ceiling fans instead of air conditioners whenever possible can cut a lot of electricity cost. Lets look at another perspective of it. The difference in operating cost is approximately 30 paise per hour for fans as opposed to Rs 10 for air conditioning. Replacing the metal blades of a fan with fiber blades can save 20% energy overall. Makes sense?
However, if air conditioning is all that you have, each degree set above 22° Celsius will use 3-5% less energy. The recommended temperature to set the thermostat at is 25° Celsius, which is both comfortable and cost efficient.

Another effective way of using power wisely is going for multi-coated glazing windows that help in restraining cool air escape. It is also advisable to install weather-strips under doors, windows, and ducts to avoid air leakage. Getting multiple coated glazes on glass windows also reduces air conditioning energy usage by about 40 percent.
In a country like India and a city like Indore that gets a real long summer (including September and October), we can install green meshes on west facing windows and doors, so that it blocks direct sunlight heat and reduces the load on the air conditioners. This can be uninstalled in winters to let sunlight come in and reduce the need of heaters. Many businesses also have a large number of plants with drip irrigation, which helps to reduce the heat as it increases moisture in the air.

For more tips and interesting ways to use electricity wisely, watch this space.

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Posted in CSR | 4 Comments »

Oops, if you did it again!

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Ofcourse you didn’t want to do it again. But you did. So now you are all guilty and irrevocably discouraged. This is the biggest symptom that you are definitely feeling responsible for a certain act. This is also the first step towards doing what is noble. And so at AnyLinuxWork , instead of creating pressure or negative motivation towards Using Electricity Smartly, we believe in positively encouraging people for the same.

So what’s your excuse of not being able to use electricity smartly? The thought is definitely inspired by the US Department of Energy initiative. They have come up with a campaign in which they are asking the children to enlist excuses for not being able to save energy. Some of these excuses we too have offered at some point of time or the other.

The top four excuses as per the list were:

1)      That’s not my charger: Someone in your office made you realize that you have taken the hook off the charger but the switch is still on. And this is how you respond.

2)      I can’t find the remote: Mum scolds you for forgetting to switch off the TV before leaving the room. And pop comes your lamest excuse.

3)      I meant to leave that on: Why haven’t you switched off the fan in your room when you are not around it? So that’s how you choose to reply to the query.

4)      Unplugging stuff is hard: The wife shouts on top of her voice- Why can’t you just unplug things? That’s coz it is hard to do.

Thus, IO came up with an idea of asking employees what’s their usual excuse for not doing what they ought to do towards the objective of using electricity smartly. The  drive is if we can count our blessings one by one, we must also count things-that-we-didn’t-do so as to correct them in future.

This was what they scribbled as their excuses:

1) I thought you will do it: This is a classical situation between two colleagues one of whom didn’t shut down the PC before leaving. Passing the buck, as we had discussed under this column earlier, comes so naturally to humans.

2) I was just about to switch off: Admission of mistakes comes a lot harder than the excuse for it. This is one such instance.

3) I wasn’t supposed to: This comes by those who just do everything by the book. Hence they need specific instructions even for the most common sensical things.

4) I got unlucky only today: This is when a senior catches you wasting energy unnecessarily and you try to persuade him that you usually are very careful but only today was an exception.

Today under this blog space, we intend to make everyone realize that we can fool the whole world by excuses but not ourselves. We might be digging our own graves by not valuing electricity as much. Efforts are not enough. We need a commitment towards using electricity wisely. No excuse on earth can ever compare with this sense of responsibility. So even if you failed last time, don’t feel bad. You can still make a difference. Never ever give up on Using Electricity Wisely.

Do feel free to share your ‘power smart’ ideas with us.

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Posted in CSR | 13 Comments »

Taking the ‘power’ responsibility

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

How easy it is to preach than practice. One such example was heard only last month in Hyderbad, also called Cyberabad. Representatives from the IT industry had urged the government to reduce the duration of power cuts as they could not run generators for five to six hours. Then there were reports that said that the local government had barred the VIP zones from the power cuts while the private regions continued to suffer. Unfair, isn’t it?

Unlike Hyderabad, in Madhya Pradesh and particularly in Indore, we have been reading reports of all the government offices being instructed by the State not to use air conditioners. Most Indians would view it as ‘divine justice’ as at least once the government offices and VIP zones have suffered the brunt of others’ carelessness.

However, at AnyLinuxWork, we have realized one thing- whoever’s fault it is, consequences have to be borne by all. Hence, we have become all the more vigilant in using electricity wisely. Most employees, instead of choosing to mock at their public sector  counterparts, have decided to practice wise consumption of power at homes, offices that they visit or friends’ houses that they go to.

Many of them have been sharing experiences where they have made it a point to switch off bulbs, fans, coolers etc when not in use. Shares an employee, “Even if I use a changing room of a shopping mall, I ensure that I switch off the light before leaving.”

Wow! That sounds very responsible and pretty much like the IO culture that has been so well-embedded in the hearts and minds of our employees. In the last blog itself, we had shared how wise power consumption is steadily becoming the habit of most of our employees not only at offices but also at homes.

That way, IO members feel that they are able to justly return the sacrifice being made by the public sector employees of the State. We truly respect the State Government’s stand on this. And we wish to say that we are with them in saving precious electricity.

Please do feel free to share your ‘power’ smart ideas with us.

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Posted in CSR | 2 Comments »

Corporate Social Responsibility: Use Electricity Wisely contd…3

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Proud to be ‘power smart’

A very interesting research conducted recently has found its way into our blog space of CSR this time. This study comes as a fitting support to our cause of Using Electricity Wisely. While in the last blog, we shared about how leaders at AnyLinuxWork were setting good examples, this time lets explore how has this cause influenced our employees.

The aforesaid study by Kenexa Research Institute (KRI), a provider of business solutions for human resources, reveals that three out of every five employees in India want to work for socially responsible organizations. It has suggested that an organization’s participation in corporate responsibility and environmentally friendly business practices has a significant influence on employee engagement and business outcomes.

The research has outlined a few key points on the impact of CSR on employees: 1. Employees feel a sense of pride in their organization. 2. Having a CSR adds to their overall satisfaction and possibility of recommending it as a good work place. 3. Employees stay longer in such organizations. 4. CSR plays a key role in attracting employees to an organization.

AnyLinuxWork is proud to share that our employees’ attitude is no less different from the results of the above research. The way they have emulated IO leaders is evident from little things that they practice everyday at the workplace. One of the major reasons why our employees have happily embraced the CSR is because of the IO philosophy of practicing before preaching. Two, IO always takes into account the views of the employees before implementing CSR policies. IO employees share how they have adopted certain habits that contribute into the cause of Using Electricity Wisely. Says an executive – “Using electricity wisely is not just a company obligation to me, it has become my habit. I always turn off the charging switch as soon as the mobile shows full battery.” This is simple yet effective. Many Nokia and Motorola users would have noticed that the phone auto-generates a message when the battery is full.

The habit of using electricity wisely has already traveled to the homes of many of the employees. Another employee shares, “I have started using CFL bulbs at home that save up to 30% of electricity.” Many others testify that they feel extremely delighted to be part of such an initiative and it has added to their ‘pride’ factor in AnyLinuxWork. While Earth Hour is being observed periodically, at AnyLinuxWork using electricity has become a part of life. Please do share your own ‘power smart’ ideas with us.

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Posted in CSR, Company blog | 7 Comments »

Corporate Social Responsibility: Use Electricity Wisely…contd 2

Monday, April 5th, 2010

AnyLinuxWork Leaders set ‘powerful’ examples

Even as the world recently celebrated Earth Hour turning off lights for the cause of Saving Electricity, AnyLinuxWork felt so proud to have gone a step ahead of that. We have efficiently been able to instill a culture of Using Electricity Wisely through setting examples. Instead of passing the buck on others and expecting the rest of the world to change, we have chosen to become the change.

Here’s how.

The moment an IO member enters the cabin of CEO Vivek Singhal, the first thing he notices is a well-lit room without the sound of the mercury. A beam of light that oozes in through two wide windows close to which is his desk and computer welcomes a visitor. Vivek practically switches on the lights only after 5.45 pm when the sun rays have gone down.

A similar scene is visible at Nidhi’s (CTO) cabin too. She has quite wisely placed both her white boards on two places where natural light falls on them directly. Nidhi uses the first white board that hangs at the right of her window for her daily reminders. In addition, while she has a meeting when she needs to draw charts, she uses the bigger board on her left. Nevertheless, this serves the purpose without practically switching off many lights. To top it all, Nidhi regularly waters a tiny Christmas Tree kept near her window that adds to the coolness of her room.

Of course, not every IO member gets a cubicle near the window, yet the
example set by these two leaders is enough to inspire thoughtfulness in using electricity smartly. Much of the part of IO headquarters enjoys the coming of direct sunlight and many employees have been inspired to use this natural boon towards using electricity wisely.

Last month, many leaders worldwide joined hands with the cause of Earth Hour. At IO, our leaders became epitomes of our corporate social responsibility.

Please do feel free to mail us about what you think.

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Posted in CSR, Company blog | 69 Comments »