Design for environment of a grid connected inverter for photovoltaic power plants

In this paper, the Design for Environment (DfE) of a grid connected inverter for photovoltaic power plants will be presented. Based on a screening-LCA and the dismantling of the precursor model, a new grid connected inverter was developed. Material savings were achieved by reducing the size of the product and a light-weight-construction. With the material savings and the recycling-oriented design, the pay-back endurance for energy was significantly reduced from 43 days for the reference device to 19 days for the new inverter. In addition, a considerable part of the load of harmful substances had been eliminated from electronic devices by the use of renewable resources (biopolymers) for fillers and halogen-free printed circuit boards (PCBs) (FR5-material). The grid connected inverter was winner of the "Berliner Umweltpreis 1999" (Berlin Environmental Award 1999) in the cate.gory "green products".