• Linkdin

IMPRESSIONS from a Cross-section

Karan Toshniwal
Karan Toshniwal
Director
Orange O Tec

Contemporary industry is paying more and more attention to the implications of a green economy


 

What is green economy and green technology? Where and how can it be applied? What are the side-effects? What is being done at Orange O Tec to incorporate green technology?

Green economy refers to the application of more environmental monitoring and electronic devices to monitor what goes into the production process. A green industry aims at using a class of electronic devices or chemical or mechanical resources to promote sustainable management of resources.

Some fields where green industrial research is oriented, particularly in machinery production, are renewable energy, water purification, air purification, sewage treatment, solid waste management and energy conservation. Developing innovative alternatives to existing technologies is a way of saving the degraded environment and of improving, at the same time, the quality of life.

It is important to meet the needs of society in ways that can continue in future without damaging or overly depleting natural resources. The aim is to meet today's needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It is not possible to give up most aspects of modern life even if we are conscious of the damage that they inflict on the environment. At least, not until we are offered an alternative, which can guarantee the same quality of life or even better standards of living at reasonable cost.

Sometimes, it is only a matter of raising awareness and spreading education about, say, waste recycling. It helps to reduce waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption. However, it is up to the industry to offer new solutions to consumers who may keep or improve the production systems and products.

For historical reasons, the production philosophy was oriented to quantitative increase of goods produced. Today, this is no more considered sufficient. Greater sensitivity to the environment translates into asking for more environment-friendly products in every possible field, from automotive to architectural, from chemistry to textiles. Textile processes, one of the most polluting sectors in the past, offer new products that replace materials with those employed in other fields. Think of technical textiles applied from agriculture to aeronautics and automotive. These processes also assuage the conscience of textile end users even as they answer the consumer's demand for comfort and durability.

Experience shows that innovation, besides meeting consumer requests, pays also from an economic point of view. In other words, innovation is business both for those who propose it and for those who accept it.

Cars are less polluting today than they were ten years ago. Houses are built to save energy more than they did some years ago. Progress in green technology has been quick. In this journey, producers have not suffered economically while consumers have reaped benefits from innovations. Those producers who did not accept this evolution have had to bow out.

Research is a labour-intensive field and requires highly qualified labour. Every innovation leads to further innovation. Attention to a green way of production means working under healthier conditions. Even if much remains to be done to take technology further, work situations of the last century in chemical or textile factories or electromechanical outlets is a thing of the past. There is synergy between the quality of an environment and the quality of life of people who live there. Today, it seems difficult to associate a country with a high level of respect for the environment with low standard of living. A modern society, when thinking of its future, cannot set these aspects aside. That is why many people consider an investment in a green economy a sure way to success and to the development of society.

Digital textile printing is a successful resource in green technology. Its contribution to the reduction of waste in dyes and chemicals can be exemplified by the far lower g/sqm consumption with low unfixed dye amounts to be removed. Unlike traditional printing systems, no colour kitchen is required with all its associated problems and costs. Processes require less water, energy and pollute less. All this results in great savings.

Orange O Tec Pvt. Ltd. in India is the window of MS - Italy for such eco-friendly digital textile printers for the last ten years. It is taking the path of the Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Mission to bring other green technologies to India to save our environment and economy.

Published on: 24/10/2016

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.