100% sustainable production with renewable energy from our own solar power plant
While politicians are still discussing how savings in CO2 emissions can be achieved effectively, cleanLASER is putting sustainable production into practice.
By investing in its own solar power plant, cleanLASER will cover 100% of the electricity required to manufacture the innovative laser systems with its own sustainably generated electricity. The roof of the modern extension building, which measures around 3,500 square meters, serves as a support for the photovoltaic modules produced in Germany.
Together with the 30 kWp capacity already installed in 2012, the expansion investment, now started at 100 kWp, will generate an annual electricity volume of around 115,000 kWh of electrical energy. This corresponds to the electricity consumption of around 40 households in Germany.
While in the German electricity mix currently only about 40 % is generated from renewable energies, cleanLASER is able to cover almost the entire energy demand from its own solar energy with this investment.
However, this also requires a very energy-efficient use of energy. The modern production building with very high energy insulation values also saves heating energy. In particular, the intelligent energy recovery of the laser test benches in the heating circuit of the heating system almost completely eliminates the consumption of fossil fuels. This holistic energy utilisation concept, which also includes the use of highly efficient LED lighting technology in the entire production building, is part of the energy efficiency concept of the company certified in accordance with the environmental standard ISO 14001:2015.
Excess photovoltaic-generated electrical energy – such as that available on non-production weekends – is used to recharge the electric vehicles in the company’s fleet and only then fed into the grid.
“Through the careful and energy-efficient use of energy as a resource and the investment in solar energy, we not only relieve the environment by more than 63 tons of CO2 per year, but at the same time even save costs in the long term. Our environmentally friendly cleaning technology with laser light – which reduces our industrial customers’ consumption of energy and chemicals many times over – is therefore 100% sustainable. As a medium-sized innovation leader, we are setting an example with this investment for the sustainable sustainability of Germany,” explains Managing Partner Edwin Büchter at the start of the installation work for the solar power plant.
Clean-Lasersysteme GmbH (cleanLASER) was founded in 1997 by Dr. Winfried Barkhausen and Edwin Büchter and is the technology leader in the manufacture of lasers and machines for surface treatment and cleaning with laser light. With 140 employees, cleanLASER from Herzogenrath produces industrial solutions for industry. In 2010, Dr. Winfried Barkhausen and Edwin Büchter were awarded the renowned German Environmental Prize by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) for the development and implementation of environmentally friendly laser beam cleaning.