Sustainable Procurement
Long Life Cycle
The SBL2 Series is the only option for commercial use that supports sustainable procurement, as it has a long-life cycle and will illuminate even in the most challenging locations, such as areas with no direct sunlight or prone to flooding and the solar light becoming submersed underwater.
Sustainable procurement considers the entire life cycle of the goods (from production to disposal), and evaluates their environmental impact based on factors such as, the potential of the product to be reused, recycled, or transformed within a circular economy at its end of life.
Not all solar lights have the same design or environmental sustainability.
Therefore, when buying solar lighting, it is important to keep in mind that unit price is not the only criteria when measuring value for money.
Life Cycle Assessment
Undertaking a whole-of-life assessment is critical and should consider:
Product: Design, materials used in manufacture, overall quality, and is it fit for purpose or are there limitations that could expose compliance or liability risk such as dimming to non-compliant lighting levels.
CAPEX: Acquisition costs, including unit price, packaging, delivery, installation, connection (or lack thereof), and commissioning cost.
OPEX: Maintenance costs: Spare and replacement parts, maintenance and inspection frequency, the warranty term including any exclusions. Operating costs: Labour, materials, consumables, and environmental impacts.
End-of-life costs: Safe disposal and removal, and any up/recycling.
Warranty Term Vs. Life Cycle
A product’s warranty term can provide a good approximation of its expected life cycle, to calculate operating and end-of-life costs.
An example of a:
Short life-cycle product will have a 1-to-5-year product warranty term-based life cycle requiring more frequent replacements of
- the complete asset (in most cases).
- batteries if replaceable or even warranted, with most warranties voided if battery is not replaced by the supplier.
- additional transportation and labour costs for removal of the old lighting asset and delivery then reinstallation of a new light asset.
- Have higher disposal and environmental costs due to shorter life.
A Long life-cycle product will come with a 10-year complete warranty minimum, and a pole/stem expected life cycle exceeding 25 years in-situ.