DPA talks LGD truths!
Synthetic,
Laboratory-Grown Diamond Truths:
Eco/Environmental
Claims!
Recently
the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) launched an expanded offering of
educational assets; Asset mix includes videos, photos, infographics and
in-store signage, at JCK Las Vegas, adding to the already robust set of
materials available on the DPA trade portal.
The
new asset package includes a free social media asset library that will be
expanded regularly to help retailers feed their digital channels with fresh, insightful
and compelling content for consumers. The social media asset mix includes both
static images as well as video assets which drive to the recently released
Total Clarity platform.
Out
of the mix, here is the key view that is being carried with DPA infographics:
1: Most eco-claims made by laboratory-grown
diamond (LGD) manufacturers are unsubstantiated and in violation of U.S.
federal guidelines.
Many
LGD manufacturers claim their products are environmentally friendly but do not
provide evidence to support their claims. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
sent a letter to eight LGD manufacturers, warning them not to make any more
unqualified environmental benefit claims, including using terms like “environmentally
friendly” and “sustainable”.
2: LGDs involves massive amounts of
energy.
Unlike
with natural diamonds, which are billions of years old and have taken millions
of years to come to the
earth’s
surface, LGDs require massive amounts of energy to manufacture in over just a
few weeks using chemical reactors that burn at up to 14,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
By comparison, the surface of the sun is only 5,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
3: LGDs require a significant amount
of freshwater to manufacture.
Excessive
heat from the reactors used to manufacture LGDs requires a large volume of
freshwater to help prevent them from overheating. One LGD producer reports
requiring up to 4,500,000 gallons per year to cool its reactors in one of its
factories. That’s enough water to fill nearly seven Olympic-sized swimming
pools.
4: Compared with natural diamonds, LGDs
on average generate 3 times the amount of carbon emissions on a per carat
basis.
The
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) and High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT)
processes emit an average of 511kg of carbon per polished carat of LGD,
according to estimates compiled by Trucost, an independent firm that is a part
of S&P Global. By comparison, it takes an average 160kg of carbon to
produce 1 carat of polished natural diamond.
5: Some LGD manufacturers make
claims of carbon neutrality by buying carbon offsets, not through sustainable
operations.
LGD
manufacturers use carbon intensive fossil fuels to power their manufacturing facilities.
Some of these producers say their process is carbon neutral because they get
power from renewable energy; however, upon further review, these companies get
energy from fossil fuel fired power plants, then purchase carbon offsets. It is
in reality not economically, technically and environmentally viable to heat LGD
reactors using renewable energy. (Exclusively edited by Nayan Jani, Editor, GJ
Town India).
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