Gordon Moore, Intel® co-founder and a long-time environmentalist, instilled a legacy of sustainability and consciousness at Intel that continues today. Intel strongly encourages its employees to apply the same level of knowledge and creativity to solving the environmental challenges of design and production as they do to creating and developing the next innovation in technology.
Green Power: In 2014, Intel was recognized for the sixth consecutive year as the largest voluntary purchaser of green power in the U.S., according to the U.S. EPAs Green Power Partnership rankings. In 2013, Intel increased its purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) to meet 100 percent of the electricity used at its U.S. locations, up from 88 percent in 2012, amounting to approximately 3.1 billion kWh of green power. Intel has received multiple awards and recognitions from the EPA, including a Sustained Excellence Award in 2012, Partner of the Year Awards in 2008, 2009, and 2011, and a Green Power Purchasing Award in 2010.
Intels LEED Certifications: Intel has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for 36 new and existing buildings in countries including the U.S., Costa Rica, Ireland, Israel, China and Vietnam, with a combined total of more than 10 million square feet of floor space.
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Intels Impact in Oregon – In early 2013, Intel achieved certification for its leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing development fab, D1X, and its Process Utility Building (PUB) in Hillsboro, Ore. The design and construction process of D1X and its PUB has diverted 78 percent of construction waste from landfills to the recycled material market; instituted technologies that will result in energy savings of 175 GWh in D1X, and 2.56 GWh in the PUB; reduced water use by 33 percent; used more than 82 percent of Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood products; and installed solar reflective “cool roofs” that reduce the cooling energy load. -
Intel Impact in Arizona – In 2011, Intel achieved LEED Silver certification for its Ocotillo site in Chandler, Ariz., making it the first semiconductor company to obtain LEED certification for an entire manufacturing campus. -
Intels Ongoing Commitment – Intel has registered two other manufacturing buildings that are on track for a minimum LEED Silver certification.
Solar Installations: Between 2009 and 2014, Intel partnered with third parties to complete 18 solar electric installations on nine Intel campuses – in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Israel and Vietnam – collectively generating more than 10 million kWh per year of clean solar energy. Of note, each of these installations, at time of installation, ranked among the 10 largest solar installations in their respective utility territories.
Energy Conservation: In 2012, Intel set new 2020 environmental goals to drive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, water use, and waste generation, as well as increases in recycling and product energy efficiency. As part of these goals, Intel aims to achieve additional energy savings of 1.4 billion kWh from 2012 to 2015. In 2012 alone, Intel invested $30 million and achieved energy savings of 117 million kWh.
Water Conservation: Since 1998, Intel has invested more than $220 million in water conservation programs at its global facilities. To date, these comprehensive and aggressive efforts have saved more than 45 billion gallons of water – enough for roughly 420,000 U.S. homes for an entire year. In 2013, Intel internally recycled approximately 2.1 billion gallons of water, equivalent to nearly 25 percent of its total water withdrawals for the year.
Supply Chain: In January 2014, Intel announced that it is now manufacturing and shipping ‘conflict-free’ microprocessors. This was achieved through a rigorous effort to validate the sources of specific metals (tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold) as ‘conflict free’ used in its microprocessor products. In recognition of Intels continued supply chain management excellence, the company ranked No. 7 on the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 list in 2012, up from No. 16 in 2011. This was the largest single-year improvement among all companies on the list in 2012.
Employee Engagement: Since 2008, Intel has linked a portion of every employees variable compensation – from front-line employees to the CEO – to the achievement of environmental sustainability metrics. Intel recognizes and awards cash bonuses to employees who help reduce Intel’s environmental impact by promoting recycling and waste reduction, lowering the environmental impact of products and processes, or creating sustainability education programs. Notable programs that encourage employee engagement include:
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Intel Environmental Excellence Awards
Since 2000, Intel has presented these awards to employees who have helped reduce Intels environmental impact. In 2012, 57 teams from around the world were nominated for their work to promote recycling and waste reduction, lower the environmental impact of Intels products and processes, and educate others on sustainability topics. In addition to yielding environmental benefits, these employee projects frequently save money for Intel. Estimated annual cost savings from the 2012 winning projects exceeded $40 million, bringing the total estimated savings generated by Environmental Excellence Award projects to more than $200 million over the past three years.
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Sustainability in Action Grant Program
Through this program, employees can apply for funding for innovative environmental projects. In 2013, Intel funded a unique photo mosaic project, in which Intel employees from across the globe could submit photos that capture the visual essence of what sustainability means to them. These photos were used to create a large interactive digital photo mosaic, which will be released on Earth Day 2014. In 2012, Intel funded nine employee projects – including installing bee boxes to study colony collapse disorder in California, planting a vegetable garden at a childrens home in Singapore, developing a water purification system for use in rural India, and identifying energy conservation opportunities within Intels labs in Oregon. From 2006 through the end of 2012, the Sustainability in Action Grant Program provided funding for 49 projects around the world.
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: For close to two decades, Intel has been setting aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals and working with others to drive industry-wide improvements. In 2008, Intel set a goal to reduce the absolute global-warming gas footprint from Intel operations 20 percent below 2007 levels by 2012. Intel exceeded this goal, reducing its absolute emissions more than 60 percent below 2007 levels by 2012. Intels new 2020 environmental goals include a commitment to further reduce the companys direct greenhouse gas emissions 10 percent on a per chip basis from 2010 levels, while continuing to expand its manufacturing capacity.
Energy Efficient Products: With a growing demand for more powerful electronics, increasing costs of energy, and the corresponding impact on the environment, product energy efficiency has become increasingly important for Intel. As part of Intels new 2020 goals, the company plans to increase the energy efficiency of notebook computers and data center products 25x from 2010 levels by 2020. Additionally, in 2012, Intel introduced 22-nanometer (nm) processors with Intels breakthrough 3-D Tri-Gate transistor technology that enable chips to operate at lower voltage with lower leakage, providing a 37 percent increase in performance at low voltage compared to Intels 32nm planar transistors.
Industry Collaboration and Involvement: As reducing the climate change impact of the ICT industry requires a cooperative approach, Intel collaborates on initiatives with multiple stakeholders, including:
· Pecan Street Inc. Since 2008, Intel has contributed RandD efforts and next-generation technology to Pecan Street Inc., a sustainable, urban neighborhood with more than 1,000 green-conscious residents. Pecan Street has gathered almost two years of energy consumption data from sensor systems in more than 200 households. Intel also worked with Pecan Street on a proof of concept to deploy Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software to help speed the data analytics, processing, and visualization capabilities for the Pecan Street researchers. Check out this blog post and video that feature commentary from Pecan Street homeowners and Intel.
Recognition: In 2014, Intel was recognized by theEthisphere Institute, the leading business ethics think-tank, as one of theWorlds Most Ethical Companies. Intel has previously been recognized on this list three times – in 2009, 2012 and 2013. Last year, Intel was named to the list of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations for the ninth year in a row. In September, the EPA presented its annual Green Power Leadership Awards, and for the second year in a row, Intel received an award for “Sustained Excellence in Green Power.” The United Nations in 2013 launched the UN Global Compact inaugural “Global Compact 100” comprised of the 100 highest performing companies on environmental and social measures and Intel was one of the 12 U.S. companies that made the global 100 index. For the 15th consecutive year in 2013, Intel was recognized on Dow-Jones Sustainability Index.