Last September, as a part of the 'green month' celebrations in Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, we were analysing the energy consumption patterns at the four different- offices located in Pune. The idea was to baseline the energy consumption and set meaningful targets for energy reduction in our offices. Owing to the particularities of each of these four buildings, the energy.consumption patterns were very different and there was a need to use standard benchmark method for relevant comparisons. While searching for such a benchmark curve, I was amazed at the number of resources freely available on the internet. The most striking tool was the 'target finder' online* software at the Energy Star website (a US government backed programme: www.energystar.gov). With minimal data, such as floor area, number of computers, person and location and energy consumption, this extremely user friendly tool can benchmark the energy consumption in an office building on a scale of 100 (70+ score means a green building). Armed with this tool, we could quickly benchmark our offices and it turned out that all four were at different operating levels and hence needed different energy reduction targets. After carrying out this exercise, I could closely relate to the frequently discussed topic of the need for benchmarking various surface and heat treatment operations (e.g. the ASM Heat Treating Technology Roadmap updates, published in 2004 issues of Heat Treating Progress).
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