# Are the paybacks in the Tiruppur manual's summary table months or years, and which of its measures pays back first?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/tiruppur-manual-payback-table-months-or-years

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) Tiruppur manual prints its payback column as months in Table 3.19 and as years in the summary Table 5.1, with the same numbers. Months is right: soft flow machines at 59 is 4.9 years. Condensate recovery and air pressure cuts are immediate, the gasifier 3 months.

## The two headings

Table 3.19, the savings table, heads its last column "Simple payback period (months)". The summary Table 5.1 near the end heads the same column "Simple payback period (Years)" and prints the same values. Read as years, soft flow would be 59 years and the gasifier 3 years, where its own lines give 3 months. The unit tables 3.4, 3.7, 3.10 and 3.14 print paybacks in years (0.8, 1.1, 1.1 and 2.1), which match 10, 13, 13 and 25 months in Table 3.19, so months is the check. The investment and saving lines show months is correct: 156 / 31.90 = 4.9 years = 59 months.

## The measures in payback order, as printed

- Condensate recovery: immediate. 21 tonnes of wood, rupees (Rs) 0.65 lakh, no cost printed.
- Air compressor pressure reduction: immediate. 6,975 kilowatt hours (kWh), Rs 0.32 lakh, no cost printed. It appears in Table 5.1 but not in Table 3.19.
- Wood gasifier: 3 months. Rs 83.51 lakh saved on Rs 22 lakh.
- Improved chulhas: 4 months. 22 tonnes, Rs 0.77 lakh on Rs 0.25 lakh.
- Energy efficient pumps: 8 months. 6,266 kWh, Rs 0.29 lakh on Rs 0.25 lakh.
- Energy efficient boilers: 10 months. 172 tonnes, Rs 3.44 lakh on Rs 4 lakh.
- Heat recovery from hot drained water: 11 months. 220 tonnes, Rs 6.60 lakh on Rs 6 lakh.
- Variable frequency drive: 13 months. 4,896 kWh, Rs 0.23 lakh on Rs 0.25 lakh.
- Heat recovery from boiler flue gases: 13 months. 23 tonnes, Rs 0.46 lakh on Rs 0.5 lakh.
- Solar hot water system: 25 months. 21 tonnes, Rs 0.75 lakh on Rs 1.61 lakh.
- Low liquor soft flow dyeing machines: 59 months. 450 tonnes and 118,614 kWh, Rs 31.9 lakh on Rs 156 lakh.

## Dividing investment by saving

Our own sum from the printed rupee lines, (investment / saving) x 12 months: gasifier 22 / 83.51 = 0.26 years, 3.2 months; chulha 0.25 / 0.77 = 0.32 years, 3.9; pumps 0.25 / 0.29 = 0.86 years, 10.3; boilers 4 / 3.44 = 1.16 years, 14.0; hot drained water 6 / 6.60 = 0.91 years, 10.9; drive 0.25 / 0.23 = 1.09 years, 13.0; flue gas 0.5 / 0.46 = 1.09 years, 13.0; solar 1.61 / 0.75 = 2.15 years, 25.8; soft flow 156 / 31.9 = 4.89 years, 58.7.

Two do not match the printed months: pumps (about 10, printed 8) and boilers (14, printed 10). Both are covered in their own pages. Solar is about 26 against 25 printed; the rest agree within rounding.

## What the manual says about who acts

It says about 70% of cluster unit owners do not have the financial strength for high cost technologies like gasifiers, energy efficient boilers and heat recovery systems, while owners are interested in low cost measures with paybacks of less than two years.

## One check: the slowest row

- Soft flow machines: Rs 156 lakh investment / Rs 31.90 lakh a year = 4.89 years
- 4.89 years x 12 = 58.7 months, printed 59 in Table 3.19 and 5.1
- Read as years, soft flow would say 59 years: the heading in Table 5.1 is the error, not the figure

This is the manual's printed figure, checked by simple division. Our reading is that the Table 5.1 heading is wrong; the manual does not say so.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the wood and kWh bought each month are on file to see which measure actually moved your bills. Senseible keeps the bills behind each measure; the payback sum stays with your own quote and bills.

- [Tiruppur soft flow dyeing machine report](https://senseible.earth/answers/tiruppur-soft-flow-dyeing-machine-report-payback)
- [Tiruppur boiler swap: compacting or dyeing](https://senseible.earth/answers/tiruppur-boiler-replacement-compacting-vs-dyeing)
- [Tiruppur drive and feed pump reports checked](https://senseible.earth/answers/tiruppur-vfd-and-feed-pump-reports-checked)
- [Tiruppur manual: cluster CO2 saving rebuilt](https://senseible.earth/answers/tiruppur-manual-cluster-co2-saving-rebuilt)
- [Green loan readiness check](https://senseible.earth/green-loan-check)

Sources: [BEE, Manual on Energy Conservation Measures in Textile Cluster, Tirupur (prepared by Winrock International India, via SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Tirupur_Textile_Industries.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Rupee figures are from the manual's study year (around 2010 to 2011). Treat the order of measures as a guide and redo the sums with current prices.