The ongoing conversion from conventional lighting to LED bulbs has considerably reduced not only consumption, but also the number of bulbs needed. If the old lighting used 160 watts, you would need just 57 watts for the new LED or around a third of the energy. For example, converting the Sattledt manufacturing site has saved almost 3,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year or the equivalent of 48 metric tons of CO2.
Chips have always been sorted in our chip removal system and there are a lot of them – around 220 metric tons per year. Thanks to a new system, sorting and extraction are much more efficient and take up a lot less space; only a third of the original surface area is required and the process does not take as long either. Since waste disposal journeys are cut by half, CO2 emissions are also reduced.
Not only has the switch from CO2 laser systems to two new, state-of-the-art solid-state lasers reduced the process time by 30%, but it has also played a part in minimizing resource consumption. The connection load and with it peak output were halved – we simply need much less power than before. It has also saved on cutting gas, reducing this by around 60 cylinders of helium, nitrogen, and CO2 per year.
During shipment, our boxes used to be filled with bubble wrap to protect the products. As an alternative, we are now using recycled paper as padding, which replaces the plastic film in the shipping packages completely. It has also been possible to better adapt the size of the boxes to our products. On top of this, we reuse several metric tons of cardboard packaging that would otherwise have been disposed of.
We at Fronius have redesigned all our merchandise with sustainability and our high quality standards in mind. We have moved away from anonymous mass-produced goods in favor of sensible, high-quality brand products that bring added value and are made to last.
When choosing new merchandise, we make sure that all products are made from raw materials that are harmless to the environment in environmentally friendly processes and under fair working conditions. The more regional suppliers there are that offer certified items, the better.
Not only are the monitoring and maintenance of our systems important for continuous operation, but they also avoid unnecessary resource consumption and boost energy efficiency. This has already resulted in annual energy savings of 35,000 kWh.