Some of mankind’s greatest challenges today are improving the living standard of the world’s population while maintaining the balance of our planet’s environment and climate. Solar energy can contribute to a sound, sustainable global growth.
Energy generation and consumption are key factors both to living standards and environmental balance. Today the world’s energy sources are primarily based on carbon: fuels such as coal, petroleum and gas meet the basic energy needs of most nations. But carbon fuels also drive climate change by emitting greenhouse gases. The energy sector accounts for 65 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Of that amount, electricity generation alone accounts for one-fourth of all such emissions.
Smart energy for a cleaner future
The world needs new and better energy sources fast, and REC is committed to providing climate-friendly renewable energy systems at affordable prices. We are focused on implementing reliable and effective innovations that reduce the cost, energy payback time and carbon footprint of our products. This is how we make a sustainable difference, and it is thus the greatest contribution we can make in the effort to combat global warming.
REC has made solid progress on this front. We already have an industry-leading energy payback time of just above one year, along with a low carbon footprint of just 0.16 gm per kWh of electricity generation capacity produced.
The key to these achievements has been our continual focus on materials and process innovation, which increases our efficiency in resource usage and energy consumption. We also emphasize the use of renewable energy wherever possible: All of our silicon operations and the majority of our cell, module and wafer manufacturing, are fueled by hydropower.
Dedicated to environmental protection
REC is dedicated to minimizing negative environmental impacts and preventing pollution from our business activities and products. We operate our businesses in compliance with all relevant environmental regulations.
We are developing management systems, tools and training that ensure continuous improvements in our performance and risk management. Our internal control mechanisms include setting challenging objectives, monitoring performance, reporting results and executing audits. REC communicates its environmental and climate policy to all persons working under the control of the company. We publish reports regularly on our environmental policy and performance, and we encourage our business partners to implement environment- and climate-friendly practices in line with our policies.
Lifecycle management
REC includes lifecycle environmental considerations when designing products. Our aim is to minimize waste and pollution in every aspect of the manufacturing, delivery, sourcing, usage and decommissioning of our products. For example, we practice kerf loss recycling, a process by which silicon waste from the wafer cutting process is collected and reused. And we refine silicon through a closed loop process, meaning that all of chemicals we put into the refining process are collected and reused.
Our commitment to protecting the environment extends well past the point of sale. REC is a member of PV Cycle (www.pvcycle.org ), a solar industry alliance that is pooling resources to collect and recycle solar modules from customers of member companies when the products reach the end of their useful life. This is a long-range commitment, as modules are typically guaranteed for up to 25 years and can stay in service producing electricity for even longer periods.