Trane aims at carbon-neutral operations and zero waste landfills by 2030

We excel where these global megatrends intersect with our innovation and advanced technologies for reducing carbon emissions from buildings, minimising waste in food and other perishable goods

Kishor Patil, Country Head- Trane HVAC Business India & SAARC Markets in an interaction with TCBU, talks about their commitment towards introducing innovative, sustainable and efficient solutions for buildings and HVAC-R sector.

Kindly walk us through your organisation’s key product profile
Trane Technologies brings sustainable and efficient solutions based on its wide portfolio of products and services and strategic brands in sectors such as buildings, homes and transportation. Our broad range of products with innovative and customer centric solutions have benefitted diversified segments including commercial real estate, healthcare, and hospitality, industrial and large infrastructure. Trane understands that each building has its own unique set of conditions required to ensure the health, comfort and productivity of its occupants. Trane chiller product line was developed based on decades of knowledge and industry leadership, and includes centrifugal, helical-rotary and scroll compressor chillers, ranging in capacities from 20 to 4,000+ tons. Trane products within the EcoWise™ portfolio are designed to help lower environmental impact with next-generation, low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants and highefficiency operation.

Some of the notable technologies and features that Trane provides are mentioned below
Air Cooled Chillers: Trane offers a portfolio of Air-Cooled Chillers for a variety of applications ranging from maintaining comfort in a building to cooling a process. With our energy efficient solutions, we are able to offer our customers multiple choices of Chillers to best meet their requirement. This helps customers to select an HVAC system with lowest operating cost that reduces energy intensity and minimize the environmental impact. High efficiency and low noise have always been a hallmark of our Air-Cooled Chillers.

With an intent to provide an environmental conscious and sustainable solution, Trane has introduced the Sintesis series with next generation and low global warming (GWP) HFO refrigerant. Sintesis series offers higher full-load and part-load efficiency. It can achieve the lowest noise rating in the market at an exceptional Class A efficiency, certified by Eurovent. Options like free cooling, partial heat recovery and adiabatic kit can be easily configured without impacting the design. Our Air Cooled Chillers with and without Adaptive frequency drive are available with micro channel and copper-aluminum condenser coils.

Water Cooled Chillers: Trane offers an extensive line of Water-Cooled Chillers ranging from 20-4000+ Tons. To meet hot water requirements, Trane offers heat recovery and heat pump chillers. Trane chillers are best suited for customers who lay their focus on high-energy efficiency, superior reliability and long equipment life. Trane CenTraVac™ centrifugal chillers provide the lowest possible cooling costs, while delivering maximum environmental benefits. Design simplicity, thoughtful refrigerant selection, innovation driven by time-tested engineering principles make CenTraVac the most reliable, cost-effective, energy-efficient, and sustainable chillers in the market today.

Trane Agility™ series provides compact chillers with minimum installation cost, making it the best choice for existing building applications. Leveraging oil free and magnetic bearings technology with optimised compressor speed and latest heat exchanger, helps in providing smaller footprint while delivering IPLV (Integrated Part Load Value) 40 percent better compared to ASHRAE standards.

Controls: With Trane Building Management System, building managers can create a technology platform to increase the performance of the building. Trane BMS is based on the latest UC series – Direct Digital Controllers and Tracer ensemble software that creates an intelligent system. Trane BMS can integrate the HVAC system with other controls system into a single platform to create an intelligent building ecosystem for enhanced monitoring and control. The combination of factory built logics and site customisation programs in the software provides guaranteed energy savings to the users and ensures a payback for the system. The reliability and flexibility of Trane’s Air-Fi range of wireless BMS enables the building owners to avoid the wired components and increase the efficiency of the complete system. Many pharmaceutical users across globe are using Trane’s 21CFR part 11 complied software ‘Ensemble’ to fulfill their compliance requirements and successfully pass the audits.

Unitary Commercial Products: Trane Unitary segment includes AMS III-mini VRF, Genyue 5+ Full Inverter series and Ducted Splits for high-end residential buildings, retail and commercial applications. The Genyue 5+ has a wide range of options on the indoor compatibility with IPLV up to 8.7*(as per GB standard). The on-demand output ensures high-efficiency and energy saving. Advanced DC inverter technology enables the compressor to run smooth and quiet with lower harmonics. It is capable of working at high ambient conditions up to 52-degree Celsius. The Genyue 5+ fresh air system delivers comfortable, healthy and sustainable living environment.

Under the present global scenario, how do you view the demand for HVAC systems in the coming years?
Urbanisation is on its peak and every country is looking at a solution to create energy efficient buildings, industrial units and commercial complexes to reduce the burden on our resources. If we look at various developed nations, HVACs have played a key role in both residential and commercial complexes.

Growing demand for an energy efficient solution and growing trend for smart technologies are key drivers for the growth of market. Specialised HVAC equipment provides the ability to fine-tune temperature, humidity, and airflow in various zones (based on data from the sensors) to optimise comfort while reducing energy consumption. For commercial areas including retail, healthcare, hospitality, and educational institutions – advanced systems available with compact design can easily provide 26 percent better efficiency and up to 30 percent saving of space. These Smart HVAC technologies also reduce the workload for facilities staff and provide better conditions for employees.

Moreover, extreme climatic conditions, rising disposable income, growing construction activities in both commercial and residential sectors coupled with various government initiatives aimed at improving energy efficiency are some of the other major factors expected to boost the Indian HVAC market during the forecasted period.

How do you view the market for energy efficient products and the uptick for sustainable products in India?
At Trane technologies, sustainability is at the very foundation of our business. Our commitment to sustainability extends to the environmental impact of our people, operations, and products and services. We see a number of customers who have evolved and are demanding the latest technologies, which include low global warming potential refrigerants and energy efficient products. Our service team offerings are aligned with our global strategy and plays a key role in minimising the environmental impact.

Government is aiming to reduce the cooling demand by 40 percent by 2038. How will this impact your business and the demand for heating?
We acknowledge the challenge of climate change and the India Cooling Action Plan introduced by the Indian Government last year. It clearly indicates that future growth will be cleaner and greener. It provides a framework, which encapsulates preserving the environment and unlocking the true potential of businesses. However, the government alone cannot achieve creating and implementing a cohesive India Cooling Action Plan. Businesses need to commit themselves to the future by investing in the next generation of climate-friendly solutions.

As a global enterprise, leading the way to a more sustainable future, we are committed towards what our country needs and are implementing strategies for sustainable friendly products. We continue to find ways to reduce the impact on the environment and follow sustainability throughout our businesses.

We have already launched Trane EcoWiseTM product portfolio that uses next generation HFO refrigerants with near zero ODP and very low-GWP refrigerants with outstanding energy efficiency and offers efficiency rating that exceed industry standards. Trane’s Air-Cooled Screw ChillerRTAF, Water Cooled Centrifugal ChillerECTV, Water Cooled Screw Chiller-RTHF and High Speed Magnetic chillers GVAF/ GVWF are part of this portfolio. With our new offerings, we bundle and bring forward technology innovation that will lower the energy consumption and have long-term sustainability.

How do you view the relevance of New brand identity for your organisation and its customers?
Trane Technologies is a global climate innovator. Through our strategic brands Trane and Thermo King, and our environmentally responsible portfolio of products and services, we bring efficient and sustainable climate solutions to buildings, homes and transportation.

With the new identity, we begin our journey as a pure-play climate innovation company, collaborating with our customers to address their sustainability challenges through heating, cooling and transport refrigeration solutions. We excel where these global megatrends intersect with our innovation and advanced technologies for reducing carbon emissions from buildings, minimising waste of food and other perishable goods, and generating productivity for our customers. By challenging what’s possible for a more sustainable future, Trane Technologies will deliver differentiated performance and create value for our employees, customers and shareholders.

Can you talk about your organisations commitment to Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) post demerger?
To take the Sustainability Goals further, we recently made a 2030 sustainability commitment post demerger. It includes goals designed to create positive impact for society and to enable a premier performing company. Therefore, our 2030 commitments are created to meet the challenge of reducing customers’ carbon emissions by one Gigaton. We are committed to have carbon-neutral operations and zero waste to landfills by 2030 and pledging to give back more water than used by the company in water stressed areas. We are also focusing opportunity for all in our workplace, with goals to achieve gender parity in leadership, workforce diversity reflecting the company’s communities, and investing in education and workforce development, and increased access to housing, cooling comfort, healthy food and wellness.