Brand-Rex’s ongoing commitment to reducing its impact on the environment has been further underlined with the announcement that its GigaPlus Category 5e and Cat6Plus Category 6 boxed cable ranges are now completely carbon neutral.
This development forms part of the company’s PAS 2050 certifications, which provide methods for assessing the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of its products and sets out a defined strategy for reducing them year on year. The company began this process over two years ago and has worked out the carbon emissions that it creates in the development and manufacture of these two market leading products.
“Getting to a point where we can describe GigaPlus and Cat6Plus as carbon neutral has been a complex but highly worthwhile exercise,” said Kennedy Miller, development manager at Brand-Rex. “By establishing the emissions we create – from the sourcing of the base materials, through to transportation and manufacture, and finally to delivery to the customer – we can ensure that we offset this with projects that support and develop renewable energy sources.”
Brand-Rex works closely with Carbon Clear, a provider of carbon advisory services and carbon offsets, and invests in a number of projects that it coordinates. In making the carbon neutral boxes, Brand-Rex has specifically chosen projects related to the emission sources including a hydropower project in Turkey, where copper ore is purified and turned into copper rod, which displaces fossil fuel emission in electricity generation. Additionally, emissions relating to the transportation of the raw materials and goods have been offset through an energy efficiency rail project. This reduces emissions by displacing fossil fuel use for electricity generation.
The offsetting programme is carried out alongside the company’s existing carbon reduction strategy, which from 2009 to 2010 cut the carbon equivalent (CO2e) of the GigaPlus Category 5e cable by 6.17% to 45.22kg CO2e per 305m box, with an even larger reduction of 9.64% on the larger Cat6Plus Category 6 cables. The boxes that the cables are delivered in have also undergone a significant redesign and are now made of extra strength cardboard that is designed to be robust while having the lowest carbon footprint possible. Furthermore, over the next few months, Brand-Rex will be phasing out its HDPE plastic inserts and replacing them with a recycled pulp alternative, making all the components of the boxes fully recyclable.
Brand-Rex operates a policy of total transparency with regards to its green credentials and all of the calculations and data relating to this and can be accessed at www.brand-rex.com/environment
The company’s carbon reduction programme also has commercial benefits. As energy prices continue to rise and data centre owners and managers aim to achieve a power usage effectiveness as close to 1 as possible, cabling manufacturers with carbon neutral products and a demonstrable carbon reduction agenda are being viewed more favourably. Miller added, “Our commitment to a sustainable future differentiates us from our competition and makes us the vendor of choice for those that require a cabling solution that can help reduce their own carbon footprints.”
