With the advent of sustainable development, global trends are focusing on various techniques to encourage energy efficiency, and even the Indian hospitality sector is looking at ways to improve its sustainability by using modern refrigeration systems By Archana Sharma
Market requirements
The refrigeration industry in India is relatively small and is a niche market in comparison to other countries. However, Reddy believes that since there is much awareness being built around energy savings in all walks of life, the hospitality sector is no different. “With energy being the most important component of Operating Expenses (OPEX), the clientele looks out for energy efficient technologies coupled with availability of robust installation and service back-up. And with all things being equal, the one with higher energy saver would be the winner,” he mentions.
Industry trends
The increased focus on reducing the use of refrigerants with an environmental impact has spread, so that it covers almost all refrigerants today, and is mainly focused on synthetic refrigerants like CFC, HCFC, HFC and HFO. However, Reddy believes that the basic refrigeration technology would remain the same. “But we can expect to see lot of developments in heat exchangers, remote controlling, temperature recording and tracking, precision controls, eco-friendly thermal insulation, HACCP compliances, etc as part of overall demand for higher standards in energy efficiency. The regulatory compliances in the form of Food Safety and Standards Act would force stakeholders to adopt quality standards,” he adds.
As per Reddy, the Indian hospitality sector is at the tipping point of growth, owing to several macro-economic factors. “The QSR sector is growing at rapid pace with several MNCs and Indian chains announcing their expansion plans for the next three-five years. Therefore, going forward, there will be a lot of pressure on the hospitality industry to continue to seek ways to reduce the OPEX to stay competitive,” he says. He also believes that customers will increasingly seek ‘Cost of Ownership’ as the benchmark to evaluate options. “It is a holistic way of looking at the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and OPEX on a product life cycle basis. In this context, the reliability of design, quality standards in installations, post-sales service assurance and post-warranty costs coupled with company’s ability to deliver on-time service during product life cycle are going to weight critically in the customer’s mind,” he states. Reddy believes that the refrigeration industry has changed a lot during the last years, however there is still a major potential to improve on efficiency and sustainability.
