Symposium on Sustainable Design – Greening the Technology Industry Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Austin, Texas REPORT

CONTENTS

About the Symposium 2 Organizers 3 Report 4

Introduction 4

Opening Remarks 7

Eco-Design in the Asian Electronics Sector 7

Transform Your Business through EcoInnovation 9 and Design Excellence

Demonstrating Sustainability Leadership through 11 Commitment and Collaboration

The Green Data Center 12

Sustainable Design: Greening of Semiconductor 13 Technology

Panel Discussion 14

Event Overview 15

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

Sustainable, or “green” design for technology, is gaining momentum as the industry aims to minimise the environmental impact of production processes and outputs. The US and UK are home to companies that have made large strides not only in elegant product design but in addressing the impact of their goods and production on the environment. In response to these recent developments, UK Trade & Investment and the Austin Technology Council collaborated to host the “Symposium on Sustainable Design — Greening the Technology Industry” to encourage dialogue about how best to bring the technology industry to the forefront of green application through sustainable design. This landmark event was held March 18, 2008, in Austin, Texas. Distinguished American and British technology experts from business, design, and academic spheres provided presentations and participated in a panel discussion focusing on technology design trends throughout the creation and use cycle. During the symposium, audience members had the opportunity to engage with the panel and learn firsthand about keys to improving process development; design techniques that complement green initiatives; the use of life-cycle analysis to determine a product’s environmental impact; and future concepts in sustainable design.

2

ORGANIZERS

UK TRADE & INVESTMENT WHO WE ARE

UK Trade & Investment is the lead Government organisation that supports companies in the UK doing business internationally and overseas enterprises seeking to set up or expand in the UK. We work in close partnership with the English regional development agencies and the national development agencies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. UK Trade & Investment will provide you with the support and strategic partners you need to succeed in the UK. WHERE TO FIND US UK Trade & Investment has an extensive global network. With commercial teams based in offices around the world and a network of specialists throughout the UK, we are uniquely positioned to help your business across national boundaries. For more information visit us at www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk UK TRADE & INVESTMENT IN HOUSTON British Consulate-General 1000 Louisiana, Suite 1900 Houston, Texas 77002 713.659.6270 x 2145

AUSTIN TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL TECHNOLOGY IN AUSTIN

Since 1994, the Austin Technology Council has been the principal point of connection for companies from the technology industry that represent a critical mass of businesses in Central Texas. It is our mission to ensure that Austin maintains its world-renowned technology status, and a community that capitalizes on its assets - university-based research, venture funding, a broad array of support services, an entrepreneurial culture and a rich pool of intellectual talent and leadership. CONTACT ATC Austin Technology Council 3925 West Braker Lane Austin, Texas 78759 512.305.0023 info@austintechnologycouncil.org

3

REPORT

INTRODUCTION

UK Trade & Investment at the British Consulate-General, Houston and the Austin Technology Council hosted the “Symposium on Sustainable Design – Greening the Technology Industry” on March 18th, 2008, in Austin, Texas. UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is the UK Government organization that both supports companies in the UK doing business internationally and overseas enterprises seeking to locate in the UK. The Houston branch is operated out of the Consulate-General and has supported the Austin Technology Council through a five-year sponsorship. Since 1994, the Austin Technology Council (ATC) has been the principal point of connection for companies from the technology industry that represent a critical mass of businesses in Central Texas. The presentations and discussions were moderated by Joel Serface, Director of the Austin Clean Energy Incubator, which is devoted to helping young clean energy companies succeed. The panel of speakers included five leaders in green Information Technology (IT), two from the UK and three from Austin:

•

•

PAUL BALLENTINE | Senior Strategy Analyst, Freescale Semiconductor

Paul Ballentine is a Senior Strategy Analyst at Freescale Semiconductor where he is responsible for market intelligence and long-range planning. Previously, he was a member of the Technology Strategy Organization at Motorola Semiconductor. Before joining Freescale, Paul helped to start two companies in the semiconductor equipment industry. Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with design, research and development, manufacturing and sales operations in more than 30 countries. Paul is active in the Austin Clean Energy community through Solar Austin and the Clean Energy Incubator. Paul holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Physics.

MARTIN CHARTER | Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design (UK)

Martin Charter is the Director and faculty member of The Centre for Sustainable Design at University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA) in Farnham, Surrey, UK. Since 1988, he has worked to address business and environmental issues in consultancy, leisure, publishing, training, events and research. Martin also serves on the Editorial Board of Greener Management International and is former editor of the Journal of Sustainable Product Design and The Green Management Letter. Presently, he sits on sustainability advisory boards of P&G and InterfaceFlor in Europe.

4

Martin is also a member of the international advisory board of CARE electronics network and works with multiple local and national British government entities as a member of South-East England Development Agency (SEEDA) Waste Market Development Group and an assessor on the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) Technology Programme. He previously served as the Director of Greenleaf Publishing, Marketing Director at the Earth Centre, and is the former co-ordinator of one the UK's first green business clubs. He is a regular international conference speaker and author and editor of various books and publications on green management, sustainability and eco-design.

•

•

ROB HOLDWAY | Founder & Director, Giraffe Innovation (UK)

Rob Holdway is co-founder and Director of Giraffe Innovation, a consultancy firm specialising in carbon and ecological footprinting, environmental legislation, innovation management and sustainable product and packaging design. Giraffe was listed by The Guardian newspaper as one of the 10 brightest independent UK green businesses, and the company currently undertakes carbon and ecological footprinting projects for clients around the world. Rob has a B.A. (Honours) in Industrial Design and an M.A. from Brunel University. He has served as a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) for 14 years, and has won two RSA SONY Design Awards. He also serves as an advisor to the UK government on EU legislation and eco-design. As one of eight official advisors representing the UK Government, he advises British business on EU Law such as the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive and cleaner design. Rob has written widely on sustainable design and has appeared on various news programmes around the globe. Most recently, he served as presenter and expert on the BBC’s DUMPED, a reality show that challenged volunteers to live for three weeks off the rubbish in one of Britain’s largest landfills. He has also written academic papers and magazine articles on design, innovation and the environment.

MARK NEWTON | Environmental Policy Manager, Sustainable Business, Dell

Mark Newton is Dell's Environmental Policy Manager. In this role, he is responsible for global policy development, stakeholder engagements and corporate accountability on environmental issues, including material use, energy efficiency, product recycling and climate strategy. Mark joined Dell in 2003 as Manager of Dell Worldwide Environmental Affairs. Under his leadership, Dell integrated global environmental design requirements into the business as part of its ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility. His team established robust compliance assurance processes, introduced stakeholder concerns into the business and led policy and process development activities. Prior to joining Dell, Mark also led product-focused environmental technology programs at Motorola and Apple. He received a Doctorate in Chemistry in 1993 from the University of Texas at Dallas.

5

•

•

PATRICK O’ROURKE | Senior Consultant, IBM Systems & Technology Group

Patrick O’Rourke serves as the technical lead on green technologies, system hardware, processor technologies and virtualization technologies for IBM. In over 29 years with IBM, Patrick also worked as an RS/6000 Product Marketing Specialist and as a Systems Engineer concentrating on DOS/VSE, CICS, and VM. The IBM Executive Briefing Center in Austin, Texas, is a showcase for IBM System p™ server hardware and software offerings. Its main mission is to assist IBM customers and their marketing teams in learning about new IBM System p™ and IBM System Storage™ products and services, providing tailored customer briefings and specialized marketing events. Patrick received a B.S. in Mathematics from Northeast Missouri State and an M.S. in Math Education from Northern Illinois.

JOEL SERFACE | Director, Austin Clean Energy Incubator (Moderator)

Joel Serface serves as the Director of the Austin Clean Energy Incubator, the first entity of its kind focused on accelerating the birth and growth of renewable energy technologies. With an extensive track record as an environmental engineer pioneering “cleantech” investments and shaping public policy, Serface brings to CEI a wealth of expertise and experience in generating and nurturing clean energy innovations. Prior to his current role, Serface served as Partner at Eastman Ventures, the strategic investing arm of Eastman Chemical Company. With the support of Eastman's CEO to deliver "greener and smarter products" to market, Serface developed new green product strategies and led the company’s cleantech investments. Prior to Eastman Ventures, Serface was a Director at Sierra Ventures where he led its first energy technology investments. Serface holds an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with concentrations in Environmental and Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. The symposium included presentations with international perspectives on issues related to IT and sustainability. Topics included supply chains and implementations of particular technologies. Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Ballentine spoke specifically about the opportunities for data centers and semiconductors, while all speakers emphasized the need for more holistic approaches, collaboration and knowledge sharing. Externally, IT products hold a vast opportunity as enablers of advancements in many renewable energy technologies and efficient control systems for optimal energy use. Internally, IT companies can begin to consider their embodied environmental footprints and costs throughout the supply chain and rethink their management and operations in a systematic way.

6

OPENING REMARKS

Joel Serface began the symposium by highlighting Austin’s IT and computational roots, which provide Austin’s IT community the opportunity to be a world leader in alleviating environmental impacts from manufacturing facilities to clean energy. Identified impacts included material waste and emissions from energy use in manufacturing and computing. Mr. Serface noted that as a result of legislative material restrictions in the US, Europe, and Japan, computer manufacturers now have the responsibility to consider end-of-life management at the beginning stages of design to be sure that lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium and other toxins do not jeopardize groundwater supplies. Moreover, companies with large data centers are facing increasingly greater energy needs to support their operations. For example, instantaneous computational power use in data centers has topped an estimated 12 GW in the United States. Strategic planning for more efficient energy use includes optimizing server operating efficiencies, decreasing cooling costs through current facility redesign, and considering ambient cooling in future data center development projects. The symposium provided a sounding board from which Austin leadership could share its ideas and solutions to these problems. ECO-DESIGN IN THE ASIAN ELECTRONICS SECTOR Martin Charter, Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design (CfSD) at University College for Creative Arts, Farmham, United Kingdom

Martin Charter opened his remarks by defining sustainability as an act that goes far beyond merely mitigating climate change. Resource productivity, resource security, clean technology, water, and pollution are all equal factors driving innovation, legislation, and demand for sustainable technology and design. To address these concerns, Mr. Charter stressed the need for environmental transparency throughout the supply chain, starting from Austin and reaching out to China. He drew upon his knowledge of current drivers in sustainability and the Asian electronics sector to describe how IT should approach the greening of supply chains. Mr. Charter cited three significant drivers for sustainable design: costs of resources, legislative pressure, and consumer awareness. He stated that $2.9 billion USD were invested in clean technology in 2006 after oil prices reached over $100 per barrel as just one example of higher costs yielding innovation. Around the world, corporate management teams are hiring an increasing number of sustainability experts to cope with global growth and the increasing resource scarcity and cost. Mr. Charter also referred to the green design legislation provided by Japanese and European governments. He concluded that Japan’s 2001 Green Purchasing Law, which required state purchases to include eco-friendly goods and services, encouraged manufacturers to provide more environmental transparency and boosted eco-labeling organizations. Likewise, he specified two pieces of European Union environmental legislation - the RoHS (Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Standards— as the most demanding electronic legislation to date

7

and therefore primary drivers for design changes in the IT sector. Globally, IT’s sustainable design challenge is to surpass the market’s most stringent regulation. Lastly, Mr. Charter described the modern concern of water shortages and climate change as a reawakening of consumer awareness. He explained that green trends tend to come in waves. The first began with pesticides usage in the late 1960s and the second with recycling in the early 1990s. As science develops, consumers respond by actively giving preference to more ethically responsible goods and services. With each wave, businesses have had to redesign their supply chains to satisfy these public demands. With the current environmental concerns, many firms need to rebuild their ecological knowledge base rather than simply expand on it. Mr. Charter stressed that the knowledge from previous environmental consumer waves needs to be maintained as we approach future inevitable concerns. In order to respond to the drivers of sustainability, Martin Charter advised IT companies to assess their supply chain and make changes by instituting advisories and “out-of-the-box” thinking to increase transparency and environmental standards. His study with the CfSD discovered that many companies are not aware of what is happening in their own supply chains. Providing an example, Charter described the ensuing panic in a supply chain when the RoHS standard was passed and cautioned that many non-compliant products (those containing lead, etc.) are still imported because of ineffective checkpoints. To assist in the greening of the supply chain, CfSD is looking to create eco-design clubs within Asian countries to diffuse eco-design information and spread its application. Mr. Charter mentioned that within China specifically, the awareness of eco-design issues is sparse and related programs within universities, companies, or the Chinese government do not exist. He said that among the 26,000 electronics companies in China, virtually none exhibit awareness of eco-design and its implications. He contrasted China—a country with a competitive drive that is crippled by little awareness—with Japan, a country with a history of environmental activity. Mr. Charter cited that Japan implemented energy efficiency in the 1970s and their more systematic and “on-time” version of the WEEE directive was passed in 2001. He added that the Japanese Business Council was organized in Europe to increase eco-design information accessibility and that Korea has followed with a similar strategy. Japan is very aware of the competitive advantage provided by sustainability and has a higher critical mass of knowledge from which to derive strategy. Martin Charter believes that Japan’s system can act as a model as well as a driver. He pointed out that Japan has not only built 40-50 recycling factories, but has begun to develop and understand an efficient recycling system. Ideally they will be disseminating the knowledge on how to run similar systems throughout the world. Additionally, he extended Japan’s influence to contract manufacturers in Taiwan that are receiving their first pressures from Japanese companies.

8

Martin Charter concluded by pointing out that environmental requirements from Japanese companies and European legislation have begun to create more sustainable practices in developing countries that are part of the supply chain. However, he stressed that for sustainability to spread throughout locations such as China, IT companies in cities like Austin must begin launching environmental concepts. Mr. Charter urged that it is time for the majority of companies to think about setting up pilot eco-design projects to build knowledge, training, and preparedness for the future. He believes that correctly responding to the cost, legislative, and consumer pressures through green design and green supply chains is a strategic issue. If an IT company fails to meet increasing environmental concern and awareness, it could see its brand removed from the market, specifically in Europe, with a subsequent drop in share price. TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS THROUGH ECOINNOVATION AND DESIGN EXCELLENCE Presented by Rob Holdway, Director, Giraffe Innovation Limited

Rob Holdway presented sustainability as an opportunity to attract consumers, streamline supply chains, and reduce costs. Mr. Holdway argues that traditionally, many companies within the US and UK focus on recycling without considering the entire supply chain. He went on to stress that companies need to consider two major obstacles to effective recycling: recycling activity is underutilized and recycling lowers the value of material and incurs additional transportation and recycling steps, making it preferable only over landfill and incineration. Thus, he pointed out that reuse elimination of excess material throughout the supply chain is much more cost effective and influential than simply recycling alone. In order to address growing concerns of waste and climate change, companies must expand their understanding of sustainable design so as to address impacts and resource flows occurring within the entire supply chain as well as innovate more green products that people want. If a company begins to assess its products by considering the opportunities within the life cycle and the desires of consumers, the company will ultimately save millions of dollars by simply making small changes throughout the supply chain. Mr. Holdway offered the simple example of packaging redesign as one small change that provides significant profits and resource savings. It is also a change that is beginning to be regulated. For example, Europe has already instituted laws against excess packaging. Mr. Holdway completed an analysis of a Belkin product with a box that did not meet these packaging requirements. By simply cutting down the size of the box and changing to less harmful materials, Belkin was able to redesign the packaging and obtain $5 million of savings from a single product. Mr. Holdway emphasized that many firms across the globe have realized similar savings from small modifications, generating vast opportunities for companies to work together both locally and internationally. Communication of sustainable design and management knowledge across industries was then emphasized. Mr. Holdway’s survey of the sustainable design field shows that global experts are either sparse or isolated to a single

9

region. Germany, for example, has performed about 1/3 of the world's life cycle assessments and therefore 1/3 of the world’s expertise needed to enact changes throughout its supply chain is limited to one region. Mr. Holdway stressed that such life cycle information about environmental impacts and practices from every region must be shared across continents in order to assess the holistic effects of a company’s supply chain. If this knowledge sharing can be achieved, the organization as a whole can profitably eliminate or reuse waste. Mr. Holdway also emphasized the opportunity for companies to advertise green innovation for publicity and public education. When promoting product advancements, companies need to provide scientifically sound information regarding the product’s environmental impacts and improvements. If companies do not provide environmental facts in addition to modifying designs and supply chains, they lose the marketing advantage of being green and open themselves to consumer prejudice based on misinformation and misunderstanding. Rob Holdway continued with his discussion by describing his TV show, "Dumped", in which participants lived for three weeks using the contents of a landfill. He served as a presenter and expert on the television program that highlighted the inefficiency of resources and exposed the public to the idea of reusing products and materials. He was also involved in the project to build the WEEE man, a public structure composed of 90% recyclable materials, including ferrous and non-ferrous materials, platinum and gold, to show the immense waste produced by companies and consumers alike. He reminded the audience that customers are beginning to think about environmental factors in purchasing decisions and companies must respond. A smart move was Sony’s implementation of an EcoLogo used to advertise to consumers and educate the public about the environmental design of Sony’s products. Unmarked products go unnoticed, failing to entice environmentally conscious consumers, and unmarked recyclables go straight to landfills. With consumer interest and holistic redesign goals, the first course of action for any business is to consider the entire production infrastructure, including the embodied energy and emissions from resource extraction to disposal. A good assessment considers the embodied effects of the final product and then alters processes, re-routes portions of the supply, and removes components based on environmental and customer factors. Mr. Holdway referenced one case in which a rash redesign removed a low impact component only to find that customers requested the return of same that component. Without a thorough holistic assessment, a company will find themselves with a solution that is worse than the original problem. Mr. Holdway explained Giraffe Innovation’s work as quantifying the emissions that occur throughout the entire supply chain. Giraffe crosses borders and manufacturers to determine the net carbon and energy footprints of components and packaging. It was revealed that the IT sector’s energy use alone makes its carbon footprint equal that of the aviation industry. According to Mr. Holdway, a 400W server’s output is on par with a Range Rover driven 25,000 km/year. Consequently, IT firms need to tackle these aspects of business. The simple translation of a 400W server to a Range Rover suggests that the CO2 taxes and penalties that currently apply to the auto industry will

10

soon be impacting the IT sector. Policy makers are beginning to grasp the impact of IT by assessing life cycle environmental footprints. Because of potential savings, market advantage, and future legislation, company management is now looking at environmental performance indicators. Some of the work that Giraffe does is merely due diligence, but companies like HP are beginning to tackle new concepts, such as environmentally sound materials, cornstarch-derived plastics, and smart textiles. One service that Giraffe provides is environmental benchmarking of competitors to not only identify areas for improvement to companies but to assist brokers in investments. Environmental awareness and action now incurs higher confidence by investors because it shows at the very least, preparedness for further legislation. But, Mr. Holdway ended his presentation with the reminder that:

“. . . ultimately, no organization, no matter how adroit, can make money from a poisoned population and a dead planet. “

DEMONSTRATING SUSTAINABILITY LEADERSHIP THROUGH COMMITMENT AND COLLABORATION Presented by Mark Newton, Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability, Dell

Mark Newton presented Dell’s approach to sustainability. He used Wal-Mart’s activity in improving the environmental responsibility throughout its supply chain as an example of how purchasing power from an influential global company impacts other companies’ decisions. Mr. Newton explained that Dell’s suppliers, including those in Asia, understand the importance of Dell’s sustainability standards and initiatives, which extend to both Dell’s environmental and social responsibilities. Because Dell views sustainability as more than a response to environmental issues, labor rights and social responsibility share equal consideration. Mr. Newton mentioned issues spanning from childhood obesity to the AIDS epidemic. Additionally, he presented Dell’s list of opportunities for future programs, on which he named climate change (energy efficiency and greenhouse gases), labor rights, and chemical content of hardware as Dell’s current highest priorities. He presented this list as an informed and dynamic agenda. For example, because of the success of take-back programs, where computers may be returned to the company for recycling, computer reuse has become a high priority venture. Mark Newton attributed the dynamic and social qualities of Dell’s sustainability strategy to a turning point caused by the original take-back program. The original program employed prison labor for recycling. When activists began picketing against the use of prisoners, Dell realised the opportunity to reach out to these external stakeholder groups and gain a new perspective in developing sustainable solutions. Subsequently, Dell began discussing transparency with a variety of NGOs, outside investors, and single-issue oriented groups. Mr. Newton expressed Dell’s commitment creating new dialogues and partnerships with groups, and cited the Texas Campaign for the Environment as one that was particularly helpful to Dell in 2004.

11

Mr. Newton described Dell’s revised and current take-back program as both large and well regarded. One advantage was a noticeable increase in Dell’s connection with the customer. The program allows customers to purchase a new Dell computer when returning their first. He argued that this effect of the program makes it more cost effective in addition to allowing for resource recovery, reducing liability for waste equipment, and reducing data security concerns. In addition to the take-back program, Mr. Newton also described Dell’s commitment to Energy Star regulations. It began as a simple requirement, (sleep mode availability), with 100% market saturation. However, Energy Star and other environmental and energy targets are becoming more exclusive, with only 20% of the market meeting regulation. It was pointed out that this change meant customers expecting to see the Energy Star label 100% of the time would now expect Dell and other companies to meet the new requirements as well. Dell met these increased expectations by giving customers the choice to include Energy Star components and features. Overall, Mr. Newton attributed Dell’s success to a strategy of ‘staying ahead of the curve’ on both public interest and policy. His advice for the IT sector was to anticipate, rather than follow, future regulation and consumer preference. This can be accomplished by looking closely at current legislation to identify similarities and predict future legislation. For example, a precautionary chemical use policy should be in place that pays attention to currently restricted chemicals and considers those that are not yet restricted. Dell has found that anticipating environmental requirements from consumers and legislation gives more lead-time to engage suppliers and more room to offer incentives to suppliers. THE GREEN DATA CENTER Presented by Patrick O'Rourke, Senior Consulting IT Architect/Specialist, IBM Corporation

Patrick O'Rourke categorized the current energy situation for data centers into three primary challenges. The first challenge is meeting increasing demand which requires additional, larger, and more efficient data centers. The second challenge is relieving increasing operational costs. Costs of personnel and environmental concerns are almost doubling, though the cost of hardware remains relatively constant. The third challenge is that most existing data centers were not built with efficiency in mind. From these three challenges, Mr. O'Rourke introduced IBM's plan and achievement: doubling computing power without increasing energy demand. According to Mr. O’Rourke, when clients come to IBM, many of them are facing ceilings regarding power thresholds. IBM faces this problem internally. IBM provides its customers five building blocks to pursue operational savings: building solutions, virtualizing environments, focusing on cooling technologies, managing and measuring systems, and diagnosing and analyzing problems to find solutions. These building blocks assist customers by reducing their power and cooling, increasing their server/storage utilization, and reducing their data center space.

12

The centerpiece of IBM's methodology is Virtualization that offers the promise of increased server utilization with fewer physical resources. Data Center Cooling is a fundamental example of the majority of energy consumption. An important part of IBM's diagnosis and analysis is to find hot spots within the data center and adjusting cooling implementations to focus cooling on hot spots instead of cooling empty space or overcooling in general. Mr. O'Rourke described a data center that was built on a raised eight-foot floor to allow for maintenance but disregarded the consequent increase in cooling demand and cost. The data center therefore contained a much larger volume of cooling space and created a major inefficiency. Other key pieces Mr. O’Rourke introduced were the need for data centers to perform a complete analysis of matching workloads with the appropriate server technology, to implement charge backs, to re-examine the geographic location of the data center and power intake. Most data centers only operate at about a 10% utilization rate of their servers. Driving up this utilization rate will not only allow for more productivity but also allow for certain machines to be turned off, resulting in a 100% processing and cooling power decrease for those machines. Components like transformers can incur a 45% loss; building data centers closer to power plants will reduce transmission losses. Data centers should also be built in cool environments and regions to save on cooling costs. Ultimately, IBM recognizes that businesses and IT providers need to collaborate to find new solutions. IBM is working with green technology providers to enhance its own internal data centers, work with clients to enact greater energy efficiencies, and to design and build smarter data centers to meet future computing demands. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: GREENING OF SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY Presented by Paul Ballentine, Senior Strategy Analyst, Freescale Semiconductor

Paul Ballentine emphasized IT as an enabler of green innovation during his discussion of Freescale Semiconductor's green strategy. He presented Freescale Semiconductor’s view of sustainability, which includes four integral components: production, life cycle analysis, end-use markets, and cleaner energy technologies. The first component he introduced was the production process and its environmental impacts. He specified reducing energy and material use in manufacturing as well as encouraging environmentally friendly behavior by Freescale employees. Reassessing manufacturing and management systems results in a more efficient and streamlined system. The second component Freescale considers is the impact of product life cycles. It is necessary to monitor hazardous substances and where and how products are used and recycled. The third component is the end-use market for a Freescale product. Freescale Semiconductor is aware of how its products can influence both current energy consumption and the development of new super-efficient and clean technologies. The fourth and final aspect of Freescale’s green strategy was the use of cleaner energy technologies.

13

All semiconductor manufacturers, including Freescale, AMD, and Intel, are tracking, measuring, and publishing their environmental impacts, such as waste, global warming emissions, hazardous materials, and energy consumption. Many semiconductor manufacturers are making the commitment to employ clean energy as well. Freescale realizes however that the most important impact a semiconductor manufacturer has is its products’ end-use. For example, Freescale Semiconductor’s product design plays a large role in realizing advanced efficiency technologies, such as controls for reducing energy use by application. For the automotive industry, Freescale processors have a key role and responsibility to enable improvements in mileage and to reduce energy use in Internal Combustion Engines, Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, and more. For the building sector, Freescale’s products enable intelligent control of motors, utility grids, smart meters to turn appliances on and off during peak load, sensing, and general auto-regulation of energy use. Freescale also views its design team as having a commitment to enabling alternative sources of energy through its products. The company can enable solar manufacturing through control circuitry and allow for increasing the control of windmills to adjust blades and speeds. Overall, Mr. Ballentine emphasized Freescale’s activity in developing cleaner energy technology and more efficient control systems. He showed that the IT sector not only has the opportunity to implement green practices and technology within building and manufacturing facilities, but it also has the potential to create and enable the next generation of those technologies for the global market. PANEL DISCUSSION Led by Joel Serface, Director, Austin Clean Energy Incubator

Joel Serface began the open panel discussion with three key questions. The first question raised the international perspective of environmental targets around the world and uneven development within the United States. He asked if the United States can catch up or if the country will need to continue importing its knowledge base. Additionally, he asked if IT needs to eliminate planned obsolescence. And finally, he asked if the industry is ready for a complete rethinking of IT; if the necessary paradigms, sets of materials, processors and solutions are in place to do so. Martin Charter addressed the first question by reminding the audience that many US firms were environmental leaders in the 1990s. Mr. Charter emphasized that the problem in the US and in other places is that environmental knowledge is lost as we move from concerns with pesticides to recycling to climate change and, in the future, water. Mr. Holdway supported this comment by saying that US consumers are not as aware of environmental issues as European consumers. US firms, Holdway suggested, should more actively respond to European consumers and follow the lead of international counterparts by investing aggressively in new technologies. Mr. Ballentine offered Freescale Semiconductor’s experience as a global company as an example. Freescale, he said, does not see the US as an environmental leader and instead prioritizes demands from European consumers and seeks information from sources such as Japan.

14

While responding to the question of obsolescence, Mark Newton commented that there is increasing demand for newer, chic industrial design. A possible solution he cited to alleviate the strains this demand places on materials and equipment was biomaterials. Mr. O’Rourke replied that IBM is employing a zero-waste initiative and pursuing organic materials. Finally, the new IT paradigm was offered by Martin Charter as a route for better strategies, such as closed loops, in addition to new design and technology. He cited Xerox as a company that achieves seven lives out of their product through six diversions of modules from landfills. Rob Holdway suggested that companies should begin looking for ways to implement more abundant materials and resources in addition to employing biomaterials and loops. Mr. Charter offered the RoHS legislation as an example in which paradigms shifted and companies ended up with a better product. Better design from the beginning, he said, can also create improvements such as energy efficiency. Mr. Holdway and Mr. Newton both agreed that development of a truly sustainable business begins with management and needs to permeate through the supply chain so that corporate goals match with those of the suppliers and designers. An important step, they established, is to close the knowledge gap requiring more global knowledge, consulting and inclusion of the commercial segments. Joel Serface concluded by saying that the first necessary step in Austin is to establish a strong green design network and that this symposium—along with working with partners such as The University of Texas at Austin and Austin Energy—is part of that societal and advanced computing technology lead. EVENT OVERVIEW

Presentations and discussion at the Symposium for Sustainable Design addressed the best interests of both local shareholders and the global community in terms of alleviating air, water, and land pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from IT. Joel Serface summarised the messages of each speaker as the following primary points: •

•

•

•

Consumer awareness and legislative drivers are reshaping the competitive advantage of providing green products, services, and supply chains worldwide. Businesses that provide a “green alternative” will address a growing consumer preference while positioning themselves to meet increasingly stringent material and carbon dioxide emission regulation.

The expectation for continuous improvement gives IT companies the ability to drive efficiency solutions beyond their primary product offerings to the breadth of consumer electronics.

To accomplish these goals successfully, solutions should be rethought in a systematic way by addressing full supply chains and facilities in addition to the narrow focus on product/subsystem performance.

Effective dissemination of information requires that lessons learned within company microcosms should be made widely available, beyond the walls of the company. Provided to the public, institutional knowledge can have an

15

enormous overall impact on both developing technology and consumer impacts.

Austin’s IT community has the opportunity to not only create more sustainable practices at home but around the globe as well. Designers are challenged to make their products more environmentally efficient. Management is challenged to assess the impacts of their supply chains. The IT sector overall is poised to work in partnership to share sustainable techniques and knowledge and enact changes throughout supply chains both within the United States, Europe, and countries in developing parts of the world. Collaboration and a common holistic goal for sustainability is the next step in IT’s sustainable paradigm.

16

CONTACT DETAILS

Conference Report prepared by: Cassandra Telenko Maura Nippert Dr. Caryolyn Seepersad Dr. Michael Webber

Cockrell School of Engineering University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station C2200 Austin, TX 78712

Email: webber@mail.utexas.edu Phone: (512) 475-6867 Web: http://www.webberenergygroup.com

17