Signify

LED lighting as a bright spot in sustainable entrepreneurship

12% of the world's electricity consumption is for lighting. World leader in lighting Signify follows an ambitious program to reduce that footprint. By using 100% renewable energy, making LED light even more efficient, and producing almost circularly with the help of 3D printing technology.

Even more economical LED lighting
The switch to LED lighting is one of the fastest and most effective ways to become more sustainable. If we replaced all incandescent and fluorescent lighting in the world with LED, it would save 553 million tons of CO₂ emissions and more than 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Does it stop there? No, because Signify is fully investigating how to make energy-efficient LED lighting even more efficient. While an incandescent bulb needs at least 25 watts to light up, LED does it with barely 3 and even 2 watts.

3D-printed fixtures
In 2022, Signify founded Signify Global Philips MyCreation: a joint venture where you can order 3D-printed fixtures made from reusable and recycled material. The production unit produces locally and only on demand. This reduces the company's transport emissions and ensures there is never waste or surplus. And, perhaps even more remarkable for a lighting manufacturer: no light burns in the Philips MyCreation production units. The 3D printers work fully automated.

Business Leader Bart Maeyens: “Our 3D-printed fixtures require less material and are easy to disassemble. Also, 60% of our raw materials come from recycled material, the rest is recyclable. This results in 75% less CO₂ than regular metal fixtures. For some professional customers, we even make new fixtures with the material from the old ones. In other words, we work CO₂-positively, waste-free, almost circular, and energy-efficient.”

Signify is also fully committed to reusability in other production units. No less than 92% of the materials used in Signify's lamps are recycled. And 4 out of 5 fixtures see the light of day again after a thorough recycling process.

Plastic-free packaging
Are materials more difficult to recycle? Then the organization removes them from its materials list. For instance, Signify already eliminated all plastic packaging at the end of 2021. This reduces the global plastic waste pile by at least 2,500 tons of plastic per year. That's equivalent to 125 million half-liter PET bottles. Their packaging is also smaller today. Good for an annual reduction of 6,000 tons of CO₂ emissions.