More and more cities are investing in a sustainable policy, including Rotselaar. Q-lite, the Belgian manufacturer of smart and sustainable display solutions (including LED screens) has largely reinvented itself as a service company.
LED displays rented out for a period of 7-15 years
In its circular business model 'Display as a service' Q-lite no longer sells displays. Instead, the company rents them out for a period of 7 to 15 years. The customer pays an annual fee that includes installation, maintenance and even electricity. In addition, they are guaranteed that the display can be upgraded during the period of use. At the end of the contract the display is returned to Q-lite for resale or recycling. VITO has demonstrated what the choice of a longer life and a service rather than a sales model entailed by calculating the financial and environmental parameters for different circular scenarios.
Better LED displays and less impact on the environment
Q-lite has many cities and towns among its customers. They frequently think longer-term and have often committed themselves to concrete sustainability and environmental goals, such as the mayor's climate covenant. The 'Display as a Service' contract in Rotselaar was closed for a period of 6 years. At the end of this period Rotselaar has the option to extend the contract for a new period of 6 years with Q-lite immediately upgrading the LED-prints so that the resolution is almost doubled. All other parts will remain unaffected by this upgrade. At the end of the 6 or 12 year contract Q-lite will take care of the dismantling, recycling and reuse of the complete installation. Given the sustainable construction of its screens, Q-lite can re-use them and rent them out to another customer.
Circular LED screens
What makes these LED screens circular? Circular means that Q-Lite does everything it can to keep these screens in use for as long as possible without compromising on the quality. That’s why from the design stage, the following things are taken into account. They use recycled or recyclable materials: aluminium with 80% recycled content. Coatings and plastics on electronics are avoided. Their click-and-screw system makes for easy maintenance and dismounting. Finally, they use smart monitoring: thanks to automatic daily analyses defects can be avoided and problems solved remotely.
