of Photonics Technologies: the European Perspective The Leverage Effect

The Leverage Effect of Photonics Technologies: the European Perspective
3.7.5 Impacts
As laser technologies are an efficient and effective production technology
and also in various final markets considered a key technology, one
can expect various economic impacts:
■ Short term economic growth of laser production is certain
Due to the further demand for lasers in final markets (e.g. telecom,
healthcare) and for manufacturing processes, it is safe to expect the
overall production of laser systems to increase. Although a reduction
in costs can be expected because of increased competition overall
economic growth is to be expected.
■ Laser based production is key to many automation processes
Being a key technology to automated robotized manufacturing,
laser systems will continue to play a part in the increase of competitiveness
in manufacturing industries. Better (faster, higher quality,
more energy efficient, more application areas) laser systems can improve
the efficiency of the production systems. Not only by e.g. cutting,
welding and ablation, but also using them for testing/measurement
purposes. Being a highly flexible part of the production
process, lasers are key to a more future oriented way of manufacturing.
The environmental impact of laser systems is complex considering different
elements of energy consumption and the impact of producing
and discarding lasers:
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■ Environmental impact of the production and discarding of lasers
Both in the production and end life of laser systems environmental
impact can be seen. In some cases heavy metals and other potentially
toxic materials are used although decreasingly so. In most cases
lasers are complex devices, with multiple materials making recycling
difficult.
■ Absolute energy consumer, relative energy reducer
Laser systems are by definition energy using devices. So the introduction
of more laser systems will be accompanied by additional
energy consumption. However, new laser systems are mostly more
energy efficient than the ones they replace, and also more energy
efficient that most other technologies they replace (being highly efficient
in performance). However, an increase in efficiency can still
be gained care must be taken with other technologies such as LED