SWEP's mindset is to act and operate so as to minimize environmental impact by developing and promoting brazed plate heat exchangers that enable the best sustainable system designs.
The company began working on its carbon footprint in early 2009. SWEP had a request from a customer that was completing a full-life carbon footprint for one of their products.
“At the request of a client, SWEP set out to determine the carbon footprint of a typical heat exchanger produced in the Landskrona production plant,” says SWEP consultant Art Smith, President of Canesco Energy and Environmental.
“The evaluation looked at the carbon emissions related to the production and transportation of the raw materials, such as steel and copper, the emissions related to the energy used to braze the plates, and a number of other factors including the direct emissions from the consumption of fuel for employee commuting. A review has been completed to footprint the products produced in SWEP's production facilities around the world.”
Smith helps clients integrate energy and environmental strategies into their business. He has worked for over 20 years in the HVAC industry after getting a degree in Chemical Engineering.
“My personal commitment is to work with companies that meet this simple criterion: the more successful they are, the better off the world will be. I feel SWEP meets this requirement,” Smith says.
He adds that brazed plate heat exchanger technology is very resource-efficient.
“From the carbon footprint review, the largest contributor to a SWEP heat exchanger's carbon footprint is the stainless steel,” Smith says. “However, the carbon emissions from the production of a brazed plate heat exchanger are a fraction of the emissions from the energy used by the products, which use the heat exchanger throughout their useful life.”
Smith points out that while SWEP continues to design the most efficient products for customer applications, SWEP's brazed plate heat exchanger can really make a difference by making the products using them more efficient.
“SWEP heat exchangers are always part of a system,” he says. “Working closely with SWEP engineers enables selections to be identified that optimize the system performance.”
