INTEL CORPORATION

  SUSTAINABILITY NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

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. EPA’s 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.

Intel’s 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.

• Intel’s 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.
• Intel’s 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 Intel’s 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 employee’s 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:

• Intel Environmental Excellence Awards

Since 2000, Intel has presented these awards to employees who have helped reduce Intel’s 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 Intel’s 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.

• 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 children’s home in Singapore, developing a water purification system for use in rural India, and identifying energy conservation opportunities within Intel’s 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. Intel’s new 2020 environmental goals include a commitment to further reduce the company’s 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 Intel’s 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 Intel’s 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 Intel’s 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 R&D 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.

BIG DATA

BigData Goes Green

By Naveed Siraj

I’ve recently made the effort to be more environmentally friendly. I turn the TV off at the mains when I’ve finished watching it, and I’ve stopped letting the tap run when I brush my teeth. Did you know that you can save up to eight gallons of water a day doing that?

We’re constantly asked by governments and utility companies to be more energy efficient in our day-to-day lives, so I wanted to do my bit. I hope you are too.

There’s no hiding from the fact that we all need to be more energy efficient to reduce harmful carbon emissions and to satisfy growing demand for energy from the ever-increasing global population. Take Asia Pacific for instance. Between 2010 and 2035 energy demand is set to increase by 67 per cent, which will account for more than half the world’s energy consumption. 

This wouldn’t be such a problem if all the resources needed to generate power were renewable. Unfortunately however, coal, oil and gas – the main resources used for energy production – are running out, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

It’s an unsustainable situation, which is why change is needed. The small changes we can make to the way we consume energy is easing the pressure, and is something we should continue doing, but there’s a game changer coming which is going to revolutionize the way we use and generate energy.

Big Data, delivering big insights.

Across the globe, power grids are being modernized and made smarter by a host of new technologies, such as sensors, metering solutions, and home energy management systems – some of which are powered by Intel chips – creating a variety of data sets delivering a deeper insight into the infrastructure’s performance. These “smart grids” will be generating unprecedented amounts of data – relating to energy production all the way to consumption – and connecting with various devices and systems empowering all involved to enhance their energy efficiency.

If you’re scratching your head wondering how all this data created by the smart grid is going to deliver improved energy efficiency while enhancing the service you receive from your provider, let me explain.

First and foremost, Big Data insights on energy consumption and generation allow utilities to effectively and efficiently manage the power grid in near-real time. What this means is that utilities have a detailed overview of the volume of energy flowing through the entire power grid and can scale it up or down accordingly at any time to meet demand; allowing us to better manage and use our precious resources. It also allows utilities to identify faulty parts of the network so that they can isolate them and mitigate the impact such faults have on the rest of the power grid.

Let me give you an example. Through analyzing data about ad breaks for popular TV shows or national sporting events, utility companies can anticipate windows where huge power surges will occur when viewers rush to switch the kettle on or grab a glass of water placing significant pressure on the network. As such, the volume of power in the grid or water in the network can be managed accordingly to satisfy demand while ensuring the processes deployed are efficient. 

The use of renewable energy in the power grid is also a great piece of evidence of how data analysis is enabling us to be greener. For instance, being able to predict how much power is generated by solar power and comparing this with usage data, utilities can identify how much energy needs to be generated from non-renewable sources, therefore reducing wastage and better managing the network.

Better understanding how we use energy will also empower utilities to offer us consumers tailored tariffs suited to our individual needs, deliver more accurate bills, and incentivize us to be more energy efficient. For instance, to ease the pressure placed on the power grid during peak hours, energy providers can offer reduced rates during off-peak hours to encourage usage then. This not only increases energy efficiency, but improves customer service.

To investigate the hugely positive impact Big Data can have on energy efficiency, Intel set up Pecan Street Inc., a nonprofit consortium of universities, technology companies, and utility providers collaborating on testing, piloting, and commercializing smart grid technologies – since launching two years ago we’ve gathered over 80GB of data from sensor systems in just over 200 households in the Mueller community of Austin, Texas.

Through the insight gleaned we aim to drive new products, services, and economic opportunities helping you to easily and efficiently manage energy consumption, while making your homes more comfortable to live in. 

It’s critical we all still make the little changes – like turning the tap off when brushing your teeth – but it’s encouraging to know that in Big Data we have a tool that will help us enhance energy efficiency further to ensure the environmental wellbeing of our children and future generations.

The author Naveed Siraj is Country Manager, Intel Pakistan