Inaugural pv magazine Honor Recognizes Industry Leadership and Circular Economy Approach
CHANGCHUN, China, December 20, 2019 /PVTIME/ — SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ:SPWR) announced that it received pv magazine’s 2019 Sustainability Award, recognizing outstanding sustainability leadership in the solar industry. The award merits were judged by an independent panel of experts.
The achievement, the first awarded by the global trade publication, adds to SunPower’s legacy of leadership in sustainable practices:
- For several years running, ranked No. 1 in the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s sustainability scorecard;
- First manufacturer in solar to achieve Cradle to Cradle Certified™ recognition;
- Currently Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Bronze, Maxeon® DC panels demonstrate quality in five categories: material health, material reutilization, renewable energy use, water stewardship, and social fairness;
- First and only solar panel manufacturer to disclose its material ingredients through the International Living Future Institute’s Declare label; and
- First and only solar panel manufacturer with an NSF Zero-Waste-to-Landfill Certified panel manufacturing facility in Mexicali, Mexico, which diverts less than 1 percent of waste annually to landfill. The same SunPower facility has also qualified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED® Gold) based on the environmental attributes of the building’s construction, maintenance and operations.
“While there is always more to be done, we are proud of the innovations that have led to this award,” said Jeff Waters, CEO of SunPower’s Technologies business unit, which designs and manufactures SunPower cells and panels. “We aim to produce panels as clean as the energy they produce. The same panels that lead the industry in efficiency and reliability are also the most sustainably made.”
SunPower® panels also deliver ancillary sustainability benefits through their power and reliability attributes. For example, because Maxeon panels have industry leading efficiency, system owners can generate the same power as conventional arrays with fewer panels. Designed for longevity, Maxeon panels have a 40-year expected useful life and a 0.005 percent warranty return rate as demonstrated across more than 15 million solar panels measured.
SunPower also requires its recycling vendors to be either R2/RIOS or E-stewards certified, was a founding member of PV CYCLE, the EU’s solar panel take-back and recycling program and co-led the Solar Energy Industry Association effort to develop the first USA-based industry-wide recycling program.
“SunPower’s patented Maxeon cell design removes the need for dangerous chemicals such as lead, cadmium and mercury,” Waters added. “As a result, our Maxeon panels can be handled more readily by recycling vendors due to the elimination of heavy metals.”
For more information on SunPower’s approach to solar sustainability, read here.
SOURCE SunPower Corp
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