Vnext

Sustainable Living

Today is WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY, and this year the theme is REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE. – a clarion call to mend our ways. We cannot turn back time, but we can still participate and support our pursuit to live healthily and leave behind a world that will sustain life for ages to come. 

Sustainability and the quest to move away from polluting fossil fuels, deforestation, non-sustainable and non-recyclable products, products that are polluting our Mother Earth and the environment, is not just about taking the right action, but equally, it is about having the right mindset. It needs to become a way of life, and only then will we be able to make a real difference and contribute to the cause. It must be practiced, preached, and then repeated – over and over again – till everyone understands its vital importance not just to us but to the generations that will follow. 

Sun Power

Imagine “The Renewables” to be the next set of superheroes who have come to rescue our world from a set of “Fossil Fuel” villains who are polluting and degrading the environment, causing deforestation, and choking us with noxious fumes and chemicals. 

The sun, an unlimited source of energy, remains the primary life source of earth. A vast, inexhaustible, and clean source, solar energy, has the potential to meet all our needs – a couple of times over. If you want to compare the power of solar, note that just 18 days of clear sunshine contains the same amount of energy as is stored in all of the planet’s reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas.

A clean source of energy, solar does not produce any pollutants. It is a renewable source of energy, requires low maintenance, is easy to install, and is one of the cleanest sources of energy. It is a renewable source of energy, requires low maintenance and is easy to install. According to certain reports, a square meter collects approximately 4.2kwh of energy every day from the sun, the equivalent of a barrel of oil per year.

Our future clearly depends on solar energy.

Renewables@Visaka

Visaka Industries Limited remains at the forefront of the fight to save the environment. Established in 1981, Visaka Industries Limited has emerged as a sustainable business enterprise with interests in fibre cement boards, sustainable yarn, and renewable energy. Visaka’s Wonder Yarn has so far recycled over 116 million PET bottles and produced Sustainable Yarn out of it. These 116 million PET bottles otherwise would have found their way into seas, landfills, and dump yards. Concentrating on the deforestation issue, it has developed the Vnext line of fibre cement boards, an eco-friendly substitute to materials like plywood, gypsum boards, and sand/water-based construction. Vnext boards have so far helped save over five lakh trees from deforestation. 

Savings the world from Deforestation

What sets us apart is our core business ethos of focusing on products and technologies which are sustainable and minimize the carbon footprint. At Visaka Industries Limited, we have a robust Research & Development wing, which is continuously working on products and technologies which help the environment and are eco-friendly. Our product, Fibre Cement Board, which we sell under the brand name Vnext is a wonderful, green alternative to plywood and wood. As we know, trees are the main raw material used for the production of plywood and wood. Hence, leading to deforestation at an unimaginable scale.

Increasingly being accepted by the real estate and interior design fraternity, our Vnext fibre cement boards and sheets are composite building and construction materials, mainly used due to their strength and durability. They are also being extensively used in energy-efficient and green buildings. Our Vnext Fibre Cement Boards are sustainable and are playing a very big role in conserving our environment and reducing the dependency on plywood and wood, leading to reduced deforestation.

Harnessing the Sun

Visaka Industries Limited’s sustainability journey is being spearheaded by Mr. Vamsi Gaddam, Joint Managing Director. He has catalysed the company’s transformation to becoming one of India’s leading sustainable brands.

Keeping the future in mind, Vamsi Gaddam invented ATUM, the world’s first integrated solar roof, in 2018. A path-breaking product, patented in India and South Africa, ATUM generates electricity and is a completely integrated, seamless solar roof made with poly or mono-crystalline solar cells and cement boards – a highly durable roofing material, making it the world’s first solar panel which can be directly used as a roof.

ATUM can be used to not only provide power for residential needs but it can also be used to generate power for EV charging stations and become a source of revenue generation. It has been successfully installed across many locations in India and globally in Africa and the Middle East. 

Charge My EV

Electric Vehicles are being promoted as green alternatives that will help reduce carbon emissions. But since they use fossil or hydro generated power, the cause is defeated and renders itself futile unless we use clean and green energy.

Enter ATUM Charge. An Electric Vehicles Charging Station that uses solar power to charge the electric vehicle.  

ATUM Charge stations will not only be powered by ATUM, the world’s first integrated solar roof, but it will also be fabricated using Vnext boards, thereby generating green energy and promoting green commute in the real sense of the word. Visaka Industries Limited will, in the first phase, set up 10 ATUM Charge EV Charging stations across major metros in India. 

These charging stations are designed so that they can be used by all EVs, including electric cars, electric bikes and electric scooters. ATUM Charge is open to partner with other electric charging station providers who would like to generate clean and green power rather than depending on fossil fuel. 

Pollution-free Commuting

There you go – you have green, sustainable building material solutions, a solar roof, an electric vehicle charging station and the AUTOMOBILE – an e-bike that is spearheading electric mobility. 

Since Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as an important element of strategies aimed at reducing emissions from the transportation sector, in a bid to promote and encourage electric mobility, Mr Vamsi Gaddam started Atumobile Private Limited, an electric vehicle start-up headquartered in Hyderabad.

ATUM 1.0, a new generation e-bike from Atumobile, is specifically designed for the needs of the upwardly mobile Indian consumer. Atum 1.0 comes with a lightweight, portable battery pack of 6 kgs. It’s easy to carry design allows the users to charge it anywhere using a normal 3-pin socket. Atum 1.0 can cover 100 kilometres in a single charge.

Atum 1.0 is approved, as a low-speed bike, by the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) which makes it ready for commercial use. Additionally, Atum 1.0 does not need registration, and the person driving it does not need a license. 

What Next?

The Sustainability agenda is gaining ground and is being accepted as a non-negotiable measure that will define our future. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by all member nations in 2015. They provide a blueprint for sustainable development and conscious consumption of resources. They act as a call-to-action around which our lives need to be pivoted. 

In a quest to promote Sustainable living, Visaka’s is aiming at opening a one-of-its-kind Sustainable retail chain of stores under the brand name ATUM Life. ATUM Life will offer fully sustainable, eco-friendly, green products. A one-stop-shop for sustainable products, ATUM Life, will offer Vnext sustainable building material, ATUM solar roof, eco-friendly apparel made with sustainable yarn, organic detergents, electric vehicles, reusable kitchenware, & cutlery and various other sustainable consumables.

To begin with, Visaka Industries Limited has plans to open 10 ATUM Life stores in major metros across India. Atum Life will source, store, sell and promote all products sustainable, making sustainable living accessible for everyone.

At Visaka Industries Limited, we believe that SUSTAINABILITY is a crucial element of our organisational strategy and our focus on sustainable businesses and products, apart from driving social and environmental change, also contributes to our overall success. For us, our business can never be independent of the environment we operate in, and this shared purpose is our competitive advantage.