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Intel joins U.S. EPA Climate Leaders program
Building on Intel Corporation's long-history of commitment to environmental leadership, Intel announced their membership in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Climate Leaders program. Climate Leaders is an industry-government partnership under which companies develop goals and strategies aimed at reducing their overall climate change impact.
"We believe global climate change is a significant issue and we have been taking steps to reduce our impact on climate change for many years", said Todd Brady, Intel's Corporate Environmental Manger. "Participating in EPA's Climate Leaders program will help raise awareness for this issue, and allow us to share our learnings with other committed companies."
In the early 90's, Intel led an industry coalition between the semiconductor industry and governments to develop a global agreement to reduce emissions of perfluorocompounds (PFCs) which are chemicals with a high global warming impact. Intel has reduced its normalized energy consumption by more than 20% over the last three years. In addition to Intel's success in reducing the climate change impacts of their operations, Intel has achieved great success in designing and manufacturing energy efficient products.
Intel's latest microprocessors the Intel® Core™2 Duo processors are more energy efficient than the previous generation desktop processors, and Intel pioneered Intel SpeedStep® technology and the "Instantly Available PC" technology that makes computers more energy efficient.
back to topIntel pushes environmental awareness in Chengdu, China
The "Green Home Talent Challenge" on CDTV-1 was launched on April 22, Global Earth Day and sponsored by Intel Involved in the Community.
Forty 40 finalists were selected from over 750 contenders among the nine districts and eleven counties of greater Chengdu to enter the last four rounds of competition.
The program promoted environmental protection awareness by testing contestants' environmental knowledge through a quiz. Example of questions included: Q1: How should medical waste or garbage be handled? Q2: What should you do should you encounter some environmental problems in the community?
One resident, after watching the Talent Challenge said, "My knowledge was greatly increased through these quizzes. Now I know my community much better and I can definitely improve my community's environment through this information".
The winner of the event will be the "Environmental Protection Star" in the greater Chengdu communities. Based on CDTV-1's data tracking, 480,000 people had watched the program.
back to topThree Intel sites earn EPA elite Performance Track membership
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized the excellent environmental performance of the Intel's operations in Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts by awarding the sites membership in the EPA Performance Track program. The program is the 'gold standard' for environmental performance for facilities such as Intel's.
"Performance Track status recognizes and rewards facilities that consistently exceed regulatory requirements, work closely with their communities, and excel in protecting the environment and public health," the EPA states.
To qualify for Performance Track membership, the EPA requires applicants to implement an independently-assessed environmental management system, have a record of sustained compliance with environmental laws and regulations, commit to achieving measurable environmental results that go beyond compliance, and provide information to the local community on their environmental activities.
To learn more about the EPA performance track, visit the EPA website at www.epa.gov/performancetrack.*
back to topIntel's first LEED certified building
Intel's first "green building" Haifa, Israel.
After much internal debate and analysis, Intel moved a big step closer towards obtaining its first "LEED certified" green building. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The new Intel building, which is currently undergoing the LEED standard certification procedure and is LEED registered. Located in Haifa, Israel this building will be home to Intel's latest Development Design Center.
As part of the LEED certification, the new design center will use: environmentally friendly building materials and construction methods; natural and controlled lighting by means of an internal patio which infuses light into all levels from an atrium; air-conditioning and electrical system which both save and recycle energy; and an irrigation system which utilizes only recycled water. Miki Livnat, Intel's Environmental, Health, and Safety manager for the region stated, "The project team was passionate about building a green building, and despite initial skepticism, they drove this project from a concept to a reality."
Why did it take so long to for Intel to get its first green building? Intel engineers have been evaluating "green" design standards and steadily incorporating green building concepts and practices into the construction of its buildings for years – but the LEED design criteria present a comprehensive set of design metrics that must be satisfied to receive certification. In an environment where construction costs are increasing and every dollar is carefully scrutinized, spending money on "certification" can easily fall to the bottom of the construction priority list. "When there is a clear ROI (return on investment) for integrating individual "green features" into our building design, it's easier to make it part of the design specifications for all building", said Intel's Principle Engineer Ted Reichelt. Unfortunately, not all of the requirements associated with obtaining LEED certification, like the certification process itself, have an easily measurable ROI. Intel designed and constructed world-class energy efficient buildings that met the majority of requirements for LEED certification, but they were unable to overcome the internal resistance to the certification process and associated costs and obtain the LEED designation.
What changed? "Our construction managers started hearing more about other projects being LEED certified, and this created greater internal acceptance of the idea; additionally, the costs associated with the LEED certification started to fall," said Reichelt. Intel hopes that the experience with the Hafia building will lead to other office buildings being LEED certified and eventually to Intel's first LEED certified Fab.
back to topEast coast supports environmental projects
Four sites collect 194.6 tons of scrap: During Q2 many East Coast employees banded together through the Intel Involved program to support various community-based environmental projects such as sprucing up local school grounds by spreading mulch, planting flowers and staining picnic tables, or trash pickups along local waterways and parks and cleanups along river rail trails.
Not only did employees get out and get dirty with family and friends, Intel sites located in Getzville, New York; Parsippany, New Jersey; Columbia, South Carolina; and Hudson, Massachusetts sponsored successful PC/TV and small electronics recycling collection events.
These recycling events have become popular community events on the East Coast and the volume of material collected has grown tremendously over the past four years. This year Intel East Coast recycling events took in a total of 194.6 tons of electronic waste.
back to topIntel Malaysia Recycling Campaign: Intel involved volunteers reach out to school children
Targeting the younger generation: Over 80 Intel Involved (II) volunteers are sowing the seeds of environmental awareness in the hearts and minds of impressionable school children from 58 primary and secondary schools spread across Penang, Butterworth and Kulim under the Intel Malaysia Recycling Campaign community outreach initiative.
As part of the two-month recycling campaign initiative, Intel Malaysia is organizing an inter-school recycling competition with as many as 30 recycled laptops awaiting the winning schools, courtesy of Intel Malaysia. Intel volunteers visited each of the 58 selected schools to carry out environmental awareness briefings to students and teachers alike.
Going by the students' enthusiasm and active participation, the briefings were a rousing success. As many as 600 students gathered and listened attentively to the volunteer-presenters as they presented the educational materials. Hands shot up in the air instantaneously when it came to the quiz segment, each student eagerly trying their luck to win souvenirs from Intel and WWF.
back to topWhat is Intel doing to be more energy efficient?
Did you know that Intel spent over $300 million on energy in 2005? In addition to the financial costs, the use of energy carries with it environmental costs as well. The burning of fossil fuels to produce electricity or heat generates air pollution and contributes to climate change. Therefore, reducing energy consumption makes good business sense and good environmental sense. Fortunately, many dedicated Intel employees have found some very good ways to do just that.
Over the last several years, many energy efficiency improvements have been implemented across Intel. These improvements have involved more efficient lighting, reusing waste heat from boilers, implementing "smart" system controls and many other innovative ideas. As a result, Intel's energy use in 2005 was lower than it would have been by more than 200 million kilowatt hours. That's enough energy to power more than 15,000 American homes, and reduces air pollution from electricity generation equivalent to removing 25,000 automobiles from the road.
Conserving energy will continue to be an important part of Intel's environmental programs, as well as an important way to control costs. Always try to be energy-wise in your daily operations.
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