Environmental Protection
SEMIKRON Protects Our Environment
Environmental protection is integral to SEMIKRON, shaping our beliefs and activities worldwide. As members of EMAS, the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, we believe reducing energy consumption and preserving our environment fosters the continued existence and success of our company.
Our key production sites in Germany, Slovakia and Italy are ISO 14001 certified and our German site is compliant with EC regulation no. 1221/2009, sourcing certified green energy and investing heavily in reusable resources in our offices and manufacturing plants. We use raw materials sparingly and try to keep waste, waste water, noise and other emissions to an absolute minimum to produce environmentally friendly products.
Whilst reducing emissions and waste in our own production sites is an important contribution to a more sustainable future, our biggest positive environmental impact by far is achieved through our products, helping customers all over the world produce and utilise energy more efficiently.
CO2-Footprint
When it comes to protecting the environment, power electronics have by far the greatest potential to make a difference. Power electronics products are used primarily in applications for efficient control and conversion of electric power, making them a key technology when it comes to solving future challenges such as conserving global energy, reducing global emissions, harvesting energy from renewable resources, or advancing the development of battery electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
What is more, by continually improving our products and using the latest technologies, we can achieve increased current density or maximum possible current per chip area. This means our power modules and systems can become increasingly compact. This saves material, space and weight in customer applications – and in turn saves energy.
In the manufacture of power modules we are particularly mindful of our impact on the environment. This includes ensuring clean air, protecting soil and groundwater, and keeping the consumption of resources and energy to a minimum. To achieve this, we are continually working to improve our processes and permanently upgrading our production equipment to state-of-the-art systems. This not only results in steady reductions in water and chemical consumption but also means that we have been able to steadily reduce energy consumption in relation to production output.
A key part of achieving environmentally friendly production is having state-of-the-art infrastructural systems, from the air conditioning in our production areas and cooling air supply for equipment and machinery to compressed air, vacuum and ultra-pure water supply, wastewater treatment and exhaust air purification.
We act in full compliance with the relevant environmental protection legislation and regulations and meet the resulting obligations. In many areas the requirements we have put in place go beyond statutory requirements. Our main production locations are ISO 14001 certified. Our Nuremberg site also meets the requirements of EC regulation 1221/2009 and is an EMAS registered company.
Around 60% of the Nuremberg site’s annual water needs (200,000 m3) are met with recovered water.
