Liberty Wire & Cable Launches Green Connectivity Initiative for A/V Products, Pros

Eco-Savvy Policies Include RoHS-Compliant and Halogen-Free Cables, Lutron Products, Energy Audits, Low-Carbon Footprints, A/V Client Benefits, More

INFOCOMM ’08, LAS VEGAS, May 28, 2008 — Liberty Wire & Cable, worldwide supplier of a broad range of wire and cable products for the audio/video trade, including custom installers and systems integrators, has announced a major Green Connectivity initiative that embraces environmentally sensitive and responsible corporate citizenship in both the A/V products the company manufactures, as well as the way it conducts business and operates its facilities.

Liberty’s Green Connectivity initiative signifies its commitment to GreenMarket goals. These include expanding the number of environmentally friendly products it offers, reducing the company’s carbon footprint in ways that also save customers money, developing a green footprint for each of Liberty’s buildings and facilities, developing paperless account management options, and developing a broad selection of energy-saving product solutions

“Liberty has been a pioneer in developing environmentally sound wire and cable products, ahead, in most cases, of customer awareness and governmental legislation,” said Kirk Horlbeck, Liberty Senior Vice President of Marketing. “We intend to continue to be in the forefront of these activities as new products and solutions become available. Green Connectivity is how the professional A/V industry stays connected.”

On the operations side of the initiative, Arnold Wadle, Liberty Vice President of Operations, explained that “Liberty Wire and Cable employs state of the art technologies to both reduce and monitor our energy consumption footprints. These help to conserve our global resources. In addition, our buildings and business processes are audited to reduce our need for overall energy consumption, and to increase our ability to recycle.”

On the product side, Liberty offers an increasingly broad selection of Green Connectivity products and solutions that protect both the environment and A/V professionals. These include products that comply with the Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, which calls for reductions in lead and five other chemicals. More than 90 percent of Liberty’s 6,000-plus products already meet RoHS guidelines that restricts the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexevalent chromium, and two polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) in electronic and electrical equipment. PBB and PBDE are flame retardants.

Liberty also complies with spreading legislation requiring so-called Low Smoke, Zero Halogen (LSZH) materials, or Halogen-Free wire and cable products that eliminate the use of halogen, chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine. All are present in the PVC compounds widely used for more than half a century as insulation for wire and cable products.

Liberty eco-solutions additionally include a broad selection of energy-saving Lutron products for lighting control; Sivoia shade and window-treatment controls that allow customers to better manage solar radiation levels and reduce heat gain for conference rooms, meeting rooms, and Home Theaters; and GRAFIK Eye occupant sensors and systems that turn the lights off when spaces are unoccupied, helping customers reduce energy costs and helping installers increase their profitability.

Liberty is also now applying eco-friendly policies to its own operations, implementing practices to reduce and monitor energy consumption in its several facilities, and also conserve resources so they are used more effectively and efficiently. Its new practices and systems include computer-controlled building climate controls that automatically adjusts to the outside temperature, computer-controlled lighting controls that automatically adjust to Daylight Saving changes, high-efficiency fluorescent lamps for interior lighting, computer-controlled drip irrigation systems, indigenous plants that use less water, rain sensors that stop watering when it’s raining, a re-circulating hot water system that conserves both water and energy, low-energy bronze-glazed windows that reduce both energy consumption and demand, and more.

Green Connectivity, a new guide explaining Liberty’s environmentally friendly policies and practices is available free of charge from Liberty, and at Liberty’s Exhibit Booth C3160, Las Vegas Convention Center, during the show.

About Liberty Wire & Cable

Liberty, a division of Communications Supply Corp. (CSC), is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., and is in its 17th year of operation. Its core goods, sold primarily for audio/video and security applications, consist of a complete line of wire and cable products along with connectors and connector systems, cable assemblies, interconnects, and a broad range of related accessories. Liberty principally serves the residential, commercial, broadcast, and rental and staging segments of the pro/AV industry. It also enjoys long-term relationships with a number of prominent OEMs. Liberty manufactures and markets the PanelCrafters line of custom and stock plates and panels. The company, which sells in 49 countries, has other facilities in Charlotte, N.C., and Phoenix, Ariz., and holds memberships in CEDIA, InfoComm International, and NSCA.
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