Silestone Sunlit Days technology has attracted attention for the 2021 Architizer A+ Product Awards. It was a finalist in the Sustainable Design category.
The win gives credit to Cosentino, but the product is a win for consumers and the environment, too. Silestone Sunlit Days is the newest release by the company – an established leader in the quartz and engineered stone industry.
The technology behind the product is called HybriQ+ by Silestone, which has drawn attention for both material composition and manufacturing processes. The resulting material, Silestone Sunlit Days, is a hybrid formulation of mineral raw materials, such as quartz and recycled ingredients. Notably, the collection is the first ever to achieve carbon-neutral status.
Looking past the line’s natural and minimum 20% recycled materials, the process for manufacturing Silestone Sunlit Days focuses on sustainability. The multi-purpose product is made in a factory that recycles 99% of the water used during production.
The company also produces 100% renewable electric energy to fulfill energy requirements. According to a statement by the company, “The new manufacturing process also has zero water discharge, ensuring that local water sources are not polluted by chemicals.”
“The introduction of the Sunlit Days Collection embodies a new dawn of Silestone. It celebrates a pivotal change for the global design world, demonstrating that change for the betterment of our planet is possible when we embolden ourselves to reimagine our manufacturing process and make the commitments necessary to reach carbon neutrality.”
Eduardo Cosentino, CEO of Cosentino North America and EVP of Global Sales
In addition to the industry-leading sustainability practices, the newest lineup reflects nature in the color options. The Sunlit Days collection is Mediterranean-inspired, offering shades titled Faro White, Cincel Gray, Arcilla Red, Cala Blue and Posidonia Green. Another product line by the company, called Ethereal, offers marble-inspired options. All products can be used for countertops, backsplashes or wall cladding in high-use areas.
Do We Really Think Silestone is Carbon-Neutral?
Climate scientists say that the concept of net zero is a dangerous trap…
The idea is simple enough: we pay someone else, somewhere else, to cover their land with trees, and they will soak up the carbon dioxide released through the emissions from our flight to the islands. We can go on using fossil fuels without affecting the climate as long as we plant enough trees… so what’s wrong with using trees to soak up greenhouse gases?
What ‘offset’ forestry does is confuse fossil carbon with biological carbon. It claims that emissions from burning oil, gas or coal can be considered equal, in climatic terms, to the biological carbon stored in a tree. The problem in reality is that carbon emissions from burned oil, gas or coal cannot be considered as equal to the same amount of biological carbon in a tree. Why not? Because there exists naturally an active carbon pool with carbon freely moving between forests, oceans and air. The fossil carbon pool, in contrast, is inert. But once out of the ground, fossil carbon joins the active carbon pool and will not go back into the fossil carbon pool for millennia. Releasing fossil carbon increases the active carbon pool, and this is the crucial difference between fossil and biological carbon.