Electrical & Electronic Equipment

Electrical & Electronic Equipment

The Electrical & Electronic Equipment industry consists of companies that develop and manufacture a broad range of electric components, including power generation equipment, energy transformers, electric motors, switchboards, automation equipment, heating and cooling equipment, lighting, and transmission cables. These include: non-structural commercial and residential building equipment, such as Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, lighting fixtures, security devices, and elevators; electrical power equipment; traditional power generation and transmission equipment; renewable energy equipment; industrial automation controls; measurement instruments; and electrical components used for industrial purposes, such as coils, wires, and cables. Companies in this mature and competitive industry operate globally and typically generate a significant portion of their revenue from outside the country of their domicile.

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Source: SASB

The manufacturing of EEE covers a wide range of devices, and resource efficiency can be improved through product design or better management of manufacturing processes. The rapid increase in e-waste requires proper management to avoid environmental and health problems. The miniaturization trend in EEE manufacturing has significant environmental impacts and requires precious metals and rare earths. Key concerns in resource efficiency include reducing hazardous waste, using sustainable materials, and environmentally friendly design. Hardware manufacturing is the dominant source of carbon emissions in the EEE industry. Improving the collection, treatment, and recycling of EEE can contribute to sustainable production and consumption and the circular economy. Innovative technologies and business models can improve environmental performance, and there is potential for reverse logistics of WEEE and end-of-life EEE as a source of raw material.

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Industry Characteristics

• EEE manufacturing covers the production of a wide variety of products and devices, including,but not limited to, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment, household appliances, lighting equipment, electrical tools, medical devices, etc. Source: European Commission
• Resource efficiency in EEE manufacturing is addressed either through design of products or through planning and management of the manufacturing process and of abatement processes. Though product design is in part oriented at making a product more efficient during use or easier to disassemble and recycle at the end-of-use, it also impacts the choice of materials and the quantities used for production. In this sense, it can lead to the use of materials for which manufacturing as well as other life cycle impacts may be easier to mitigate or to prevent. Source: European Commission

Sustainability Impact

• The amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (widely known as WEEE or e-waste) generated every year in the EU is increasing rapidly. It is now one of the fastest growing waste streams. Waste from electrical and electronic equipment includes a large range of devices such as computers, fridges and mobile phones at the end of their life. This type of waste contains a complex mixture of materials, some of which are hazardous. These can cause major environmental and health problems if the discarded devices are not managed properly. Source: European Commission
• The miniaturiasation trend that EEE manufacturing currently follows, results in large environmental impacts, especially in terms of resource efficiency. Precious metals and rare earths are needed for the manufacturing, which create further environmental burden. Source: European Commission
• With regards to their manufacturing processes, it has to be considered that EEE devices often contain components that cause a high energy and/or material consumption. For example, the energy and material consumption of a notebook’s mainboard results in a GWP of approx. 70 kg CO2e, representing almost 50% of the overall emissions of the production phase. Source: European Commission
• A number of impacts that at present are understood to be of key concern in resource efficiency are:
  - EEE manufacture, such as the semi-conductor industry. It can be seen that the reduction of hazardous waste and waste water effluents has often resulted in solutions that recycle various substances back into the process. This will result in reduced costs for raw materials while reducing the various emissions tied with production. Some of the key targets include reducing the amount of solvents.
  - Concerning polymers used in EEE appliances, a growing trend is the shift away from primary materials to recycled materials where possible, with frontrunning manufacturers quoting the share of recycled content within specific products or throughout their portfolio. A shift towards more sustainable materials or environmentally friendly materials is also observed as a key focus in R&D and design.
  - Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) sputtering processes, applied in the  anufacturing of thin films for displays, are quite inefficient. According to Goonan (2012) „Only about 30 percent of an ITO sputtering target is effectively deposited as quality substrate material”. Though some efforts for decreasing the demand of indium aim at increasing the efficiency of the manufacturing method, a main practice concerns the recovery of indium from the sputtering chambers used in these processes. In the past, recovery rates were around 60-65%. Despite the fact that efficiencies are improving, they are still an important focus of further development efforts. Source: European Commission
• Particularly in the production of electronics, water is often treated before being directed to production processes, to remove substances that may interfere with specific reactions or impact the longevity of equipment. Source: European Commission
• According to research published by a group at Harvard in 2020, in the EEE industry hardware manufacturing is the dominant source of carbon emissions. Source: Z2Data

Sustainability Investments to watch

• Improving the collection, treatment and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) at the end of their life can: (1) improve sustainable production and consumption; (2) increase resource efficiency; (3) contribute to the circular economy. Source: European Commission
• The introduction of new innovative technologies that can be applied on-site and new business models can definitely improve the overall envrironmental performance and eventually balance the caused environmental impacts of a manufacturing site. Source: European Commission
• There is a large market potential for reverse logistics of WEEE and end-of-life EEE as a source of raw material. Source: Emerald - Reverse remanufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment and the circular economy (José Luiz Romero de Brito, Mauro Silva Ruiz, Cláudia Terezinha Kniess, Mario Roberto dos Santos Revista de Gestão)