Environmental
Consierations
Lifecyle Analysis
Lifecyle Analysis
Lifecyle Analysis
Material Extraction
Distribution
Use
Any product manufacturer who is looking to make a shift towards sustainability knows the importance of creating a product lifecycle assessment.
Depending on how in-depth an LCA is, it can provide critical information in sectors where the manufacturer can improve a process and reduce environmental impacts. Lumen Lamps feels obliged to follow suit.
As detailed in the manufacturing section, the componentry of the LUXIO lamp really falls into 3 main material categories. For simplicity, these will be the categories that we will analyze.
The initial consideration that we must make, of course, is how and where we source our raw materials for the lamp. We took careful consideration in selecting materials from the start that will result in minimal wastage down the line. Aluminum is the metal of choice for all the armature and connectors making up the LUXIO's structure.
Whilst we must admit that Aluminum has quite a high embodied energy figure due to the intensive mining and extracting process from bauxite, but it can easily be repurposed. As this product demands the higher price tag, we have been able to handpick suppliers that are shown to be sustainable.
Our Cherry wood is sourced from sustainable sources and we can be sure of this because our suppliers are FSC compliant. The result of this is a minimal impact in particular to wildlife that rely on the respective tree for their habitat and survival.
Our third material is opal acrylic which is used for diffusing the directional LED lighting. Opal Perspex is made from the thermoplastic Poly(methyl methacrylate). This polymer of course comes from a monomer which is sourced from oil extraction and oil rigs before being separated through fractional distillation.
Source: Aluminium’s life cycle advantages - Recycling Today , Emulsion polymerization - Wikipedia
Material Extraction
Manufacturing
Between every stage of the LCA there are emissions due to transportation. Lumen Lamps has considered this- and so we have made sure to source all of our materials from local suppliers to avoid an accumulating carbon footprint.
The second stage of the products life is manufacturing of all the componentry that constitutes of our lamp.
There are two possibilities for part creation- and, those can be either be in-house manufacturing or bought in parts. Whilst Lumen Lamps largely relies on bought in parts, it does employ both of these techniques, and therefore needs to address their impacts.
One of the considerations that we have made in order to reduce our impact is attempting to utilize standardized componentry as frequently as possible. An example of this would be our armature which comes as-standard in the correct size, ready to go into the product following sanding (a process we do by hand).
For the LED diffusor material, we use PMMA. Synthesis of PMMA is conducted through a process called Emulsion polymerization. Unfortunately this is an energy intensive process- however, Lumen Lamps remains on the search for a less energy intensive material that performs equally well.
The Lamp base arrives as wooden blanks. The process of making the bought-in Cherry blanks requires a commercial automated sawmill which cuts the wooden logs into the desired blank size after skinning and drying it. In the workshop, we use a wood lathe and carve the base to its desired shape by hand. This truly makes every lamp unique.
Distribution is the third stage of the product's life. As previously mentioned, there is constant movement and transportation of the lamp's componentry between every stage of the cycle. This means that the carbon footprint adds up and can't be simply ignored.
Lumen Lamps has made every effort to reduce its footprint- with most of the transportation emissions originating from outside sources, we can't reduce the emissions of the individual suppliers. However, we do have a choice of supplier and so we are actively selective in making sure that our suppliers themselves don't source materials from distant locations.
Lumen Lamps has also made sure that it's part suppliers are all in the UK, which is in line with our main stakeholder's preferences. The advantage of this doesn't only end at a reduced footprint but rather extends further than this. Having UK suppliers significantly reduces the cost and waiting times between ordering and receiving our parts. Furthermore, it supports the economy and local communities and businesses. If the LUXIO was to scale up to a higher level of production, having national suppliers means that we can avoid supply chain issues and utilize a manufacturing technique such as Just In Time (JIT) to boost our sales.
We believe that there still remains further opportunity to improve in this sector. Once electric supercharging stations become more populated along common truck transport routes, this industry will see a mass adoption of electric trucks. Not only is the usage of electric trucks over a long period of time more economical and environmental than ICE units, but they are also more than capable of carrying large loads thanks to the large torque that electric motors are capable of making.
Distribution
Usage
Every manufacturer should aim to keep their product in the usage stage once they have reached that milestone. Unfortunately, development of products is a double sided coin- it is great for consumers as improvement is always wanted however it does often mean that the previous model is disposed of, and often done so incorrectly. Vendors such as Apple are now attempting to create a closed loop system, whereby the user gives back their previous model for a discounted price on the newer one. Large manufactures can then have full control of what happens to all the materials in that product and can greatly reduce the long term costs of new material purchase and shipping.
It is possible that over the lifetime of a product, its energy consumption in the Usage stage is greater than the energy required to extract the materials and manufacture the product itself. In fact this often will be the case with things like vehicles and electronic devices, especially ones that last a long time.
The LUXIO lamp features only a single electrical component that requires energy input to function. Of course, these are the lamp's lights. Especially so in the current circumstances, it is of utmost importance to be energy efficient. And so, our lamp features LEDs as its only method of converting electrical energy to light. The invention of these semiconductor diodes is a major innovation, are a great energy improvement when compared to filament and halogen bulbs which have a lower efficiency than LEDs.
To complement the efficiency of the LEDs we have chosen, the aluminum tube casing is polished internally to reflect as much light as possible through the perspex diffuser and to improve performance through heat reduction.
The final stage of any product's life has a measurable impact on the consumer and manufacturer. When a product reaches the end of its life- sometimes earlier than it should due to planned obsolescence - a few things can happen to it. The most preferable scenario is agreed to be Reuse. If a product can be reused, it means little to no energy needs to be wasted in converting its componentry for remanufacture. An example of this can be older electronic devices. Depending on the age of the device, it may not have an appeal to many people in developed nations; but, still has the opportunity to be reused in developing environments. Of course the downside to this is that a consideration has to be made regarding the efficiency of the product itself. Some items, particularly older appliances have poor energy ratings and low efficiency. However, the overall energy calculations are likely to still lead to the conclusion that exporting a product to be separated and melted down into individual components is a more energy intensive process than running a slightly dated, less than economical machine.
The second option is to recycle or upcycle the product. Upcycling is a process that is more similar to reusing than recycling, in that the item is no longer being used for its original function but for a different operation. This is equivalently as good as reusing from an environmental perspective even though perhaps not always from a functional perspective. Recycling on the other hand is something that people are often encouraged to do on a regular basis and is common knowledge. The issue with recycling is that the quantity of energy that is required to place a product back into the closed loop system can be very large, especially for things such as metals with high melting points. This still remains a more preferable option to the worst scenario of disposal to landfill or incineration.
Fortunately, the modular design of the LUXIO lamp alongside the simplicity of the electrical componentry has meant that the only likely failure the product will witness over its lifespan is a faulty LED. The rest of the structure is incredibly robust and so can withstand impacts without hesitation. At the end of its life, the product's parts such as the tubes can be repurposed quite easily, like most standard componentry. The wooden base, if need be, can easily biodegrade. Lastly, the Perspex Acrylic can be recycled. In this fashion, Lumen Lamps has avoided the option of careless disposal into landfill and incineration.
Disposal/ Recycling