Saving energy is a virtue when you are designing electronics for a wireless phone. After all, battery life is limited and precious.

Qualcomm Inc., San Diego’s $8.9 billion wireless technology giant, also concerns itself with conserving resources in the larger scheme of things.

On Jan. 18, the company dedicated new, energy-efficient equipment to power its sprawling Sorrento Mesa campus.

Later in the day, the company held a two-hour program outlining a range of planet-friendly practices for invited guests.

Qualcomm operates a cogeneration plant on its Morehouse Drive campus.

The 1982 vintage plant, which provides heating and cooling as well as electricity, and was originally built by Home Federal Savings and Loan, received some new hardware.

A Mercury 50 natural gas turbine, the product of San Diego-based Solar Turbines, generates 4.3 megawatts of electricity as well as low emissions.

One megawatt can power 10,000 100-watt light bulbs.

Exhaust from the turbine, which exits the unit at 700 degrees Fahrenheit, goes into a 1,300-ton absorption chiller made by Broad Air Conditioning of China.

Using energy that would otherwise go to waste, the chiller produces industrial cooling water for the campus air-conditioning system.

Alan Ball, director of Qualcomm’s real estate and facilities arm, says the turbine-chiller combination is the most efficient system of its kind operating in the world.

Qualcomm would not say what it invested in the new equipment, but the expenditure was offset by $600,000 in incentive money.

The California Center for Sustainable Energy in San Diego administers the Self-Generation Incentive Program.