Sunbeam: first solar panel mounting system with category-1 environmental declaration
Brecht van der Laan has just come from a meeting with the Circularity Working Group of industry association Holland Solar when we meet for this interview. The solar panel industry has succeeded in supplying CAT 2 environmental data for the National Environmental Database, “a huge improvement over the CAT 3 environmental data that were in it until now.” It is pure coincidence that we are speaking at this time, because the reason for our conversation is mainly the CAT 1 environmental declaration that has recently been included in the National Environmental Database of the products of Sunbeam, the company where Brecht is sustainability manager. It will be a conversation about intrinsic motivation, just doing it and how valuable and easy it is to add environmental statements of your products to the National Environmental Database.
Sunbeam
Brecht van der Laan
Making rooftop solar energy more accessible
Sunbeam makes mounting systems for solar panels, and the company's origins alone have everything to do with a sustainable view of materials. Brecht: “Our founders saw in the market how complicated it actually was to mount solar panels. It required a lot of labor and ballast. That had to be possible in a smarter way, they thought.”
“In 2011, Sunbeam's first product came on the market, a mounting system for solar panels for flat roofs. The premise behind this: by mounting the solar panels at a slightly lower angle, they hold each other, so to speak. Not only does this make it possible to fit more panels onto the same surface area, but the installation also requires less ballast and labor. This is how rooftop solar energy became more accessible and yielded more financial returns. Now, in 2023, that original idea still stands. It has even become the standard in solar panel installation today.”
Sunbeam now has 30 employees and also added mounting systems for pitched roofs to its product range.
Climate neutral products
From the intrinsic motivation to not release CO2 into the world, Sunbeam started mapping the entire chain of its assembly products a few years ago.
“It would be very easy to say, ‘We're in the renewable energy business, so we're already good enough.’ Or, 'Our product has such a relatively small impact compared to the production of solar panels, it doesn't matter that much to become more sustainable there.' But we wanted to know where our impact is and how we can reduce it. After all, everyone has a responsibility. We want to take it and also take the lead in that.”
“By mapping the chain, we saw where we could make the most impact. For example, we use a lot of steel, so we started looking at how we could reduce the use of steel. We also use a lot of aluminum and plastic. Of those, we now only use 100 percent recycled materials that ideally are also produced with renewable energy.”
Concrete goals
“What helped us tremendously with this was setting concrete goals. We want to emit 6% less CO2 annually, for example. A goal like that is something you can obviously get away with as an engineer. Our product developers work very specifically toward something and can decide together: what is low-hanging fruit and we do it now, and what is more complicated and we do it after that? For example, I can imagine that in the future we will switch to hydrogen steel. That's just difficult to obtain and expensive right now, so we chose first the factors we can already make an impact with now.”
Chain mapping also enabled Sunbeam to get its products certified. “We have a clear plan and clear goals to reduce our carbon emissions. Our whole company is set up accordingly. We also offset the CO2 emissions we do still produce. This is how our products were certified CO2 neutral.”
Sector data in the National Environmental Database
What Brecht did notice was that the focus on CO2 was also somewhat limited somewhere. “Within the industry association, we were already collecting category 2 environmental data for inclusion in the National Environmental Database. Until then, solar panels were only in it with category 3 data. That was no longer tenable. The MPG is constantly being scaled back and on category 3 data comes a 30% mark-up, because they are not as sharp. The construction industry talked to us as a sector about that. Now solar panels are in there with category 2 data and that has a huge positive effect on the calculation. It helps the construction industry to keep putting solar panels in and is an incentive for us as an industry to improve even more.”
Filling the gaps compensation scheme
“I realized through this process that of course there is much more impact than just your CO2 emissions. A life cycle analysis also looks at other toxins and also water use, for example. There are so many more ways you can become more sustainable! And then the NMD's Filling the gaps compensation scheme came to my attention. That was the trigger for us to have a Category 1 environmental declaration drawn up for inclusion of our products in the National Environmental Database.”
“By the way, that turned out to be not complicated at all. I requested a couple of quotes from LCA experts to draw up the life cycle analysis and chose the expert I had the best click with. He took a nice pragmatic approach and that suits us. Anyway, there is a very clear format for completing all your data. You are taken completely by the hand. Everyone succeeds.”
Environmental impact as a selection criterion on the rise
And now? “Now I am especially very proud that we are just doing this. None of our competitors are in it yet, and that could be a reason for us not to do it then. But then nothing happens and nothing changes. We want to live for and hopefully other parties will soon follow.”
“I also feel by everything that change is coming. In our industry, selection is still primarily based on price, but the selection criterion of environmental impact is on the rise. Certainly if the MPG goes down even further, you will end up winning projects on your environmental impact. But then your category-1 data will have to be found in the National Environmental Database.”
Just start, just do it
Brecht likes to talk about his experiences with the National Environmental Database. “We are actively discussing it with other companies within the industry association. I would also like to say to producers in other industries: take it on, it's easier than you think. And it's inspiring. It helps you get started in an even more concrete way with your intrinsic motivation to make a positive impact. Many people have gone before you, so there are plenty of experiences to learn from. Just get started, just do it.”
Category 1,2 & 3, how was it again?
The National Environmental Database collects environmental data on building products. Those data describe for each life stage of the product what effect the building product has on resource depletion and what toxic emissions are released. The database is the central data source for calculation tools used to determine the environmental performance of construction works. In the National Environmental Database, we distinguish three categories of environmental declarations of products.
Category 1
These are verified, proprietary data. They are the property of the manufacturer.
Category 2
These are verified, industry/sector-specific data. They are owned by the industry.
Category 3
These are untested, generic data prepared by LCA experts. These category 3 data represent a fallback option for when maps of this product do not yet exist. These data are less sharp, which is why there is a markup factor on them of 30%.
To fill the National Environmental Database with as much category 1 and 2 data as possible, we encourage producers and manufacturers of building materials in providing this data. We do this with a scheme that allows you to be reimbursed €2,500 for having an LCA made.
This page was translated using DeepL.