Greener Products & Processes
Making our operations cleaner is only part of Southwire’s growing green effort. Our research and development team continuously seeks to make our products more environmentally friendly as well.
For example, SIMpull THHN® cable is a breakthrough building wire that eliminates the need for added lubricant when it is pulled through conduit. Because no lubricant is required, no lubricant wastes are generated. That also eliminates the need for plastic buckets or bottles, lubricant rags and the cardboard traditionally used to protect surfaces from dripping lubricant. Contractors discard thousands of buckets and rags every day, along with tons of cardboard and all that wasted lubricant. Not anymore with SIMpull THHN® cable.
Cutting waste can be as simple as eliminating wooden reels, which we have traditionally used to ship our energy cables. Southwire’s Enviro Coils™ are strapped and wrapped in recyclable plastic and can be used with a Southwire Stem Pak™, a metal tubing frame. Our reel-less packaging eliminates the need to cut down trees to make reels. It also eliminates the need to dispose of the reels, saving landfill space.
Southwire also offers programs for reel recycling. We take back other scrap materials as well, to ensure they are recycled and not wasted.
Southwire is also working to make our products more efficient. This has obvious payoffs for our customers and for us. But, more importantly, it has payoffs for the planet, too.
Consider our energy cables – large diameter cables that transmit electricity outward from a generating plant. Our ACSS and HS285® bare aluminum overhead conductors lose less current through resistance than alternative products. That means utilities can transmit power more efficiently, which reduces their generation requirements. The new lines can be installed on existing towers, eliminating the need to build new ones.
Working closely with the U.S. Department of Energy, Southwire is a pioneer in the development of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables. HTS cables can carry up to 10 times more power than traditional power lines, reducing the number of cables needed to serve large urban areas. Using HTS cables also reduces the need for substations, transformers, switchgears and related equipment.
Millions of feet of wire and cable products are used every day in the delivery of electric power and the construction of homes, businesses and industrial facilities. By making our products more efficient and by cutting the waste left behind, Southwire is reducing our negative impact on the environment, while still providing the necessary products for a technologically advanced society.
