Power Supply Environmental Standards

environmentalAt Sunpower Electronics we help our customers use resources more efficiently by employing a host of power supply environmental standards, including:

  • Higher efficiency designs using advanced technology to ensure a continual reduction in component count
  • More efficient design topology that reduces energy consumption
  • Reduction in failure rate, often even 0%, ensuring reliable trouble free operation
  • Longer lifetime on product through cutting edge design leading to distant obsolescence
  • Closed loop recycling systems for all raw materials
  • Environmental energy saving programs

Above all we continue to invest heavily in power supply environmental standards and environmental research and development as we strive to improve the efficiency of our products and processes in all business areas.

80 Plus Verification

Sunpower Electronics signed up to the 80Plus™ program to integrate more energy efficient power supplies into our range of available off the shelf products, custom units can also be designed to this standard upon request.

80plusThe 80 Plus™ performance specification requires power supplies to be 80% energy efficient or greater at 20%, 50% and 100% rated load with a power factor of 0.9 or greater. The test is very demanding, particularly achieving 80% efficiency at only 20% load.

A 80 Plus™ certified power supply not only saves energy costs they also increase the reliability of your system through reduced heat output and therefore decreases maintenance costs, lengthens equipment life and generally improves the comfort of your working environment (reduced heat output calls for minimised need for noisy PC fans, making a quieter office environment).

A selection of our 80Plus certified products can be found below or enter 80Plus in the search area to bring up all of our verified products.

Energy Star

Sunpower Electronics signed up to the Energy Star program to integrate more energy efficient power supplies into our range of available off the shelf products.

Energy Star is a voluntary labelling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The requirements differ with each application although the energy star program provides a trustworthy label on over 60 product categories. To qualify for energy star certification, products must pass a variety of tests to prove they are energy efficient, cost saving, high quality and meet specific lifetime criteria.

IP Rating

Ingress Protection Rating (IP Rating) indicates the level of protection to which a product is protected against the intrusion of solid objects or dust, accidental contact and water.

To read more about power supply IP Ratings click here.

The RoHs and REACH Directive

The RoHs and REACH directive aims to restrict certain dangerous substances commonly used in electronic and electronic equipment. This (RoHS) European directive aims to control the use of certain hazardous substances in the production of new electrical and electronic equipment, it is a partner directive to the WEEE directive (Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment).

Any RoHs compliant component is tested for the presence of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

Reach is the regulation for registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals. This directive applies to all chemicals not only chemicals used in industrial processes, for example those products used in our day-to-day life.

The RoHS regulations place the following requirements upon producers:

  • Products placed on the market must not contain over the maximum concentration values of hazardous substances
  • Documentation must be available for compliant products before placing them on the market
  • Documentation must be maintained for 4 years after the product is retracted from the market

Ingress Protection Rating (IP Rating) indicates the level of protection to which a product is protected against the intrusion of solid objects or dust, accidental contact and water.

It is identified by a code of the letters IP followed by two digits and an optional letter. Where there is no protection rating with regards to one of the criteria the digit is replaced with the letter X.

Solid Particle Protection

The first digit indicates the level of protection that the enclosure provides against access to hazardous parts and the ingress of solid foreign objects.

0 - No protection

1 - Protected from large foreign objects >50mm

2 - Protected from medium sized foreign objects >12.5mm

3 - Protected from small foreign objects >2.5mm

4 - Protected from granular foreign bodies >1mm

5 - Limited ingress of dust, not in sufficient quantity to interfere with operation

6 - Totally protected from dust

Water Ingress Protection

The second digit indicates the level of protection that the enclosure provides against harmful ingress of water.

0 - No protection

1 - Protected against vertically dripping water

2 - Protected against vertically dripping water when the enclosure is at a angle of up to 15°

3 - Protected against water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical

4 - Protected from water splashing against the enclosure from any direction

5 - Protected from water projected from a nozzle against the enclosure from any direction

6 - Protected from strong jets of water from all directions

6K - Protected from strong jets of water with increased pressure from all directions

7 - Protected against ingress of water when enclosure immersed in water, in defined conditions or pressure and time, down to 1 meter

8 - Protected from continuous submission in water beyond 1 meter under conditions specified by the manufacturer

9K - Protected from powerful high temperature water jets

Additional Letters

The optional letter can be appended to classify only the level of protection against access to hazardous parts by persons:

A - Back of Hand
B - Finger
C - Tool
D - Wire

These other letters are be used to provide additional information:

F - Oil resistant
H - High voltage
M - Device moving during water test
S - Device standing still during water test
W - Weather conditions

WEEE Directive

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations (2006 No. 3289) (WEEE) have been put in place to ensure that products are recycled using best available treatment. The WEEE directive uses recovery and recycling techniques to ensure human health and high environmental protection.

Aiming to improve the environmental performances of businesses using electrical and electronic equipment the WEEE directive reduces the amount of untreated equipment going to landfill.

Sunpower UK 3TG Statement

Sunpower Electronics is concerned about the unintentional support of armed conflict through the purchase of certain minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and countries that share its border (“the DRC region”).

We understand that armed conflict may be directly or indirectly financed by the trade in certain minerals, and the ores from which they originate, that are mined in the DRC region. The minerals specifically identified are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold (known as “3TG minerals”). The 3TG minerals are present in the manufacture of a wide variety of commercial and industrial products, which includes some of our products.

Due to our support for the human rights of all people and our concern that materials in our supply chain may be inadvertently used to limit human rights, we continually take steps to understand whether any 3TG minerals that may be contained in our products are used to finance the conflict in the DRC region.

Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 requires publicly traded companies to inquire into the origin of 3TG minerals in their supply chains and to report on their due diligence processes and findings in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sunpower Group Holdings Ltd fully supports the goal of this regulation to stop the funding of armed conflict in the DRC region.

In line with our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, Sunpower Group Holdings Ltd is committed not only to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, but also to ethical and responsible conduct in all of our operations and respect for the rights of all individuals. We also expect that our business partners will share this commitment.

We take the following steps to determine the use, source, and origin of 3TG minerals in our global product portfolio across our business segments. We will use a reasonable documented process to:

  • Work closely with our suppliers to determine the potential use of 3TG minerals in our supply chain and, when appropriate, work with them to resolve issues and source more responsibly.
  • Expect our 3TG suppliers to conduct the necessary inquiry and, where appropriate, additional due diligence to provide us with confirmation of the source of the materials used in their processes and ultimately present in our products.
  • Encourage our suppliers to advocate and actively action our philosophy of sourcing 3TG minerals from socially responsible suppliers, including conflict-free mines in the DRC region.