The semiconductor industry value chain, including materials, equipment, manufacturing, and consumer products, has a long history of creativity and innovation in the “greening” of its operations.
In his best-selling book, Green to Gold-How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, Yale professor Daniel C. Esty argues that the semiconductor industry is facing a “transformative watershed” over how to deal with energy and environmental issues. The central point in Green to Gold is that companies that demonstrate concern for all aspects of the environment can take advantage of the rising “Green Wave” to enhance their own sustainability and improve profitability.
Semiconductor companies are so practiced at innovation that Esty sees the microchip industry playing a critical role in developing advanced solutions to the growing challenge of pollution reduction and energy development. Venture capital is pouring in, convinced that clean energy developers are poised to design and commercialize revolutionary new technologies, while adding value and increasing the functionality of current ones. This rising interest of the VCs portends a new area of growth for the high-tech industry. For example:
- Transportation represents about a quarter of total worldwide carbon emissions. The electronics industry will contribute to reductions in the future through computerized engine controls, advanced controls for electric vehicles, advanced traffic management (timed lights, etc.), and widespread global positioning systems to shorten travel routes and avoid traffic jams.
- Eco-friendly semiconductor manufacturing innovations can be transported to other manufacturing technologies, as we already have done with safety. This bridging will occur first with flat panel displays and solar manufacturing, eventually spreading across the equipment and materials supply chain.
- Smart buildings, which integrate advanced design and computer-controlled systems that anticipate the needs of occupants while providing greater energy efficiency, user control, and comfort, are proliferating throughout the business world.
- Much of the groundwork to enable these opportunities has been done by the International Sematech Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), which serves as a catalyst for the semiconductor ecosystem. Our track record includes such innovations as the following:
- The ISMI Supplier ESH Leadership Initiative, launched in 2004, established a forum where ISMI member companies and the semiconductor industry’s equipment and materials suppliers can identify and address shared ESH challenges.
- The ISMI Resource Conservation and Manufacturing Sustainability Project was created to identify and characterize cost-effective opportunities to reduce resource consumption (energy, water, chemicals, consumables, etc.). ISMI experts collaborate with member companies and the equipment supplier community to demonstrate and commercialize promising technologies.
- The ISMI Green Fab Initiative applies current best practices for sustainable fabs to guidelines in the Leadership in Energy and Engineering Design (LEED) rating system established by the US Green Building Council. ISMI led task groups are creating a LEED-compatible “green fab” building standard that would include right-sizing of facilities and systems, energy supply efficiency and management, safety and risk management, fab environmental monitoring, decreased water usage, and innovative wastewater treatment and recovery systems.
Due largely to its significant intellectual, material, and manufacturing resources, the semiconductor industry is well-positioned to lead other industries in the development and deployment of innovative eco-friendly manufacturing solutions.
 |
James Beasley,
ESH technology manager, ISMI
Contact James Beasley at ISMI, 2706 Montopolis Drive, Austin, TX 78741; ph 512/356-7577, e-mail James.Beasley@ismi.sematech.org. Acknowledgment: LEED is a registered trademark of the US Green Building Council.