Sustainable Manufacturing
Building a sustainable future for ourselves and the planet involves taking care of our environment and attempting to minimise our demand on the ecosystem services that the earth provides (for free). This includes reducing energy consumption, selecting renewable energy over fossil fuels, eliminating single-use plastics and landfill generation as well as a myriad of other measures that together add up and make a difference.
Aqualux Solar PV Generation
The Aqualux factory has a 40kW PV array installed on the roof, powering our local manufacturing and assembly operations. View the last 7 days performance in the chart below.
ENERGY USE
At the Aqualux factory and offices, 100% of our electricity comes from renewable sources, either generated directly on-site via our rooftop solar or purchased from our provider. This costs us more than the standard electricity rate, however, we believe it is important to take whatever action we can to help foster a truly renewable and sustainable future, and choosing to buy renewable energy is one of the easiest ways to do this.
SINGLE-USE PLASTICS
Several years ago we decided we were going to try and eliminate all plastics in our packaging supply chain and shipment operations. This meant educating both our overseas suppliers as well as investing in paper-based shipping equipment and biodegradable (home compostable) shipping satchels. We no longer use plastic packing tape, our bubble wrap is 100% plant-derived and one of our last uses of plastic (pallet wrapping) is about to move to an Australian-made bio alternative.
PRODUCTION PROCESSES
With the introduction of our new powder coating line also comes a pre-treatment process that involves several tanks to clean, prepare & protect raw luminaire bodies prior to coating. We have invested in a fully closed-loop ion-exchange system that will effectively filter the system wastewater, refreshing the rinse tanks to near-total purity.
FACTORY LIGHTING
Being an integrated lighting design & manufacturing company, it only makes sense that our production floor lighting would be energy efficient. However, we went one step further when recently refitting our factory and designed ourselves a custom linear lighting system that features ultra-low glare (UGR < 17) optics and the latest generation of CREE mid-power LEDs. By ensuring the light is delivered where we need it (at the production workbench level) and stray light and glare minimised, even greater efficiencies are achieved.