Reducing energy consumption

Finding ways to use less energy is a very high priority for our near-term Sustainability Program, which aims to reduce our energy consumption by 3% in 2010 compared to the 2006 baseline. Based on expected growth, this means an improvement, on a per-wafer or per-product basis, of more than 7.5% per year.

The EcoVision program measures how our manufacturing sites use gas and electricity, along with other natural resources such as technical gases (which make up roughly 9% of our energy use), renewable energy, and other fossil fuels.

Energy use in 2006 decreased slightly to 5,292 TJ from 5,325 TJ in 2005, despite a production increase of 15%. The normalized reduction of 14% was due in large part to the success of our improvement projects. Also helpful were a very mild winter in Europe, the resizing of the Caen site in France (and closure of one of the buildings there), and the decommissioning of steam generators at Hazel Grove's Fab 1 in the UK.

Technical gases

The consumption of technical gases used in the semiconductor manufacturing process varies according to the product mix and volumes. The changes in consumption between 2005 and 2006 shown in the graph can be attributed to increased production quantities on the one hand and shifts in the production mix on the other.

Saving water

Conserving water is another very high priority for our near-term Sustainability Program, since semiconductor processes consume water in significant volumes. Our 2010 goal for conserving water is the same as our goal for reducing energy consumption � that is, we aim to reduce our water consumption by 3% compared to the 2006 baseline. As with energy consumption, this means an improvement, on a per-wafer or per-product basis, of more than 7.5% a year.

In 2006, many of our manufacturing facilities already had onsite water-saving projects in place. These contributed to an absolute reduction of 2%, down from 10,372 thousand m3 in 2005 to 10,157 thousand m3 in 2006. Taking the increase in production into account, this was a normalized reduction of 15% � a very significant improvement.

Managing waste

It is our policy to recycle or dispose of waste locally. We don't expend resources shipping waste to other countries, even if they offer easier or cheaper ways to dispose of it. In 2006, we delivered 57% of our total waste materials to external contractors for recycling. By 2010, we aim to increase that number to 70%.

Local legislation determines whether waste should be qualified as hazardous or non-hazardous. Of the 43% of our total waste that was sent to landfill or incinerated, 21% was non-hazardous and 22% was hazardous. The reclassification of some scrubber media contributed to an increase in hazardous waste.

In absolute terms, waste is up from 16.8 kilotons in 2005 to 17.6 kilotons in 2006, although with a production increase of 15%, this results in a net reduction of 8%.

Sustainable pack-and-ship methods

Semiconductors are fragile and require special packaging materials to protect them during shipment to our end customers. We only deliver products to other businesses, so none of our packaging materials are received by end consumers.

We remain committed to sustainable pack-and-ship methods, give our customers the option of returning shipping trays for refilling, and use specially designed packaging tubes that are easy to recycle. We currently ensure that 95% of the packaging materials we use can be used again or recycled, and our goal is to increase that number to 98%.

In 2006, our use of packaging materials rose with our increased production quantities. A change in the reporting categories caused a shift in our quantities of packaging materials used. Some materials formerly reported as “plastics” are now reported as “others”.