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Halogen-free Cables: Green, Safe, and Healthy

Perhaps more so today than ever before, the issues of health, safety, and environmental impact are top priorities for manufacturers of all types. The wire and cable industry is making significant advances in products and standards in order to satisfy these important needs. Halogen-free cables are an example of this type of industry advancement.

Halogen-free cables are manufactured without the reactive elements of the halogen family: chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine. Halogens are an effective flame-retardant, so they have traditionally been used as insulation material. However, they can catch fire and in the event they do, the results can be catastrophic. While they’re very stable in their natural state, halogens create highly toxic and corrosive fumes if burned.

The gases produced by burning halogens create an acid when mixed with even small amounts of water, like the moisture found in lungs, eyes, and throats. These chemical reactions can disorient and injure people who are trying to escape a blaze. Clearly, this creates a hazardous situation wherever an accidental fire can occur. On another note, halogen fumes from even minor fires can results in thousands or sometimes millions of dollars in corrosion damage to computer equipment and circuits.

The smoke and fumes are so harmful that governments and municipalities are moving to introduce stricter halogen regulations. Many European and other international countries have already banned the use of cables containing halogen from construction. Due to these increasing regulations, more and more manufacturers are making the switch to low-toxicity, halogen-free options.

Halogen-free cables offer the added benefit of being more environmentally-friendly. They emit considerably lower levels of carbon monoxide (CO) – sometimes as much as 360% less carbon output overall. Switching to these cables will help to minimize your company’s carbon footprint and effect on global climate change. Additionally, halogen-free cables are low-smoke products because they produce far fewer air-borne particles.

Halogen-free cables are perfect for applications that require high performance and reliability while offering outstanding safety, like public transportation or busy locations such as airports and shopping malls. The blend of low pollution, toxicity, and corrosion levels and outstanding product quality make halogen-free cables an option that should be considered by anyone purchasing wire and cable products.

About the Author

Tim Flynn is the President of Allied Wire and Cable, a leading value-added distributor of electrical wire, cable, tubing, connectors, and accessories, headquartered in Collegeville, PA. Tim, a graduate of Drexel University, has been President of AWC for its entire 20+ years in business, and he has guided the rapid growth of the customer-focused, relationship-based company. For more about AWC, please visit: http://www.awcwire.com/

Can I live in West Allis and go to a Waukesha school?

My dad wants me to move in with him before this year ends, but the problem is that I am a senior in high school and go to a Waukesha school. Is it possible for me to still go to a Waukesha school, even though I will technically be living in Milwaukee? I don't want to switch schools, but I don't want to tell my dad no. I don't know enough info about school districts to know if this is legal or not...Thanks in advance for the help!

not legally but if you do not go around and tell everyone chances are you can get by with it!!!