LG Electronics extends green initiative

LG Electronics Digital Appliance Co. said it is extending green initiatives to all sectors of its business – product design, the actual production process and its corporate culture. LG Electronics said it balances nature with home appliances by developing health-and-nature-conscious products through an environmentally friendly production process.

Young Ha Lee, CEO of Digital Appliance Co., LG Electronics, said: "As the No. 1 producer of residential air conditioners and a global top tier player in other home appliances, what we do as a company to reduce the environmental impact makes a difference on a global scale. Our brand theme is Life’s Good. LG’s corporate commitment to living with the environment is another facet of our promise that life will stay good in hundreds and even thousands of years from now by protecting our environment. Our business is only sustainable if our customers’ lives are sustained."

Nature-blended products

Lee said consideration for customers’ well-being and creating a fresher and healthier environment through its products is LG’s top priority in product design and development. As a result, LG now takes the lead in ‘well-being’, which not only complies with its environmental goals but is also a very promising market, he added.

He said LG’s air conditioners come with such features as ‘natural wind’ and the ‘nano plasma air purifier’ to create the most natural cooling conditions. The vacuum, ‘Cyking’ and its robotic type, ‘Roboking’ have HEPA (high efficiency penetration air) filters, which retain 99.95 percent of dust particles sucked into the vacuum cleaner. LG’s nano-silver antibiotics technology, which is certified by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the United States, is installed in the vacuum cleaners and refrigerators. The technology eliminates 99.98 percent of the harmful micro organisms.

Since early 1990s, when LG Electronics declared its Environmental Credo, it has come a long way in closely monitoring and enhancing its production process. Now, LG air conditioners use environment-friendly refrigerant ‘R-410A’, which does not damage the ozone layer. Unleaded soldering technology is applied in the production of all LG home appliances. And, the LG Digital Appliance carries out the life cycle assessment (LCA) on all products in order to numerically evaluate how environmentally friendly each production procedure is. This includes procedures such as collecting resources, manufacturing, assembling, transporting and disposing.

LG Digital Appliance is also over-achieving the global regulations on environmental safety and has already completed abandoning the use of six hazardous substances mandated by the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive with a deadline of July 2006. LG Electronics was also designated as an official test center for the analysis of hazardous substances by the United States Underwriters Laboratories in February 2005.

Lee said: "By creating an eco-friendly production environment, LG has become the leader in minimizing the industry’s impact on the environment. At the end of our waste water facilities, there is a pond made with water treated in the facilities where we raise traditional oriental aquarium fish. This symbolizes how we try to maintain a balance between nature and the production of our appliances and the role of technology and investment behind preserving the environment."