TI is committed to keeping the air clean and safe wherever we operate by reducing emissions related to our operations, including manufacturing, transportation and even our landscaping upkeep. Programs exist to address each of these areas, with teams dedicated to their management and success.

Programs

NO_x and VOC emissions

Maintaining clean air is important at all of our sites globally, but is perhaps most critical in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The area is not in attainment with U.S. ambient air quality standards for ozone, an air pollutant commonly known as smog.

Smog is formed when nitrous oxides (NO_x) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions (commonly emitted by cars, lawnmowers or manufacturing operations) are baked into the atmosphere during warm months, producing a thick dirty haze that is harmful to humans, plants and other animals. The region has struggled for years with developing and implementing an effective plan that would reduce NO_x and VOC emissions and subsequently improve air quality.

Nearly a decade ago, TI's environmental team took the initiative to reduce ozone-forming NO_x emissions. We have since implemented a number of air emission and NO_x abatement projects. We retrofitted and replaced manufacturing equipment and upgraded boilers to reduce emissions. We've also limited generator testing during peak ozone hours and discouraged the use of combustion engines (such as lawnmowers) during "ozone action" days.

Likewise, our employee trip reduction programs have successfully reduced the number of single-occupancy employee vehicles on the road. TI has implemented similar programs globally to reduce air emissions within the communities where we operate.

Evaluating our progress

In 2007, TI successfully implemented a new means of reducing VOC air emissions from manufacturing operations while also reducing fuel use and resulting NO_x emissions – the first project of its kind in the industry.

The project began in 2005, when engineers from TI and Matros Technologies began devising an industry-specific catalyst, similar to catalytic converters on modern cars, which reduces harmful emissions. The completed catalyst made it possible to reduce TI's fuel costs by almost $900,000 a year. More importantly, the process cut NO_x emissions by an estimated 45 percent and will eliminate the disposal of 136 tons of packing material every four years.

CFC use

In the past, TI used CFCs in our manufacturing and refrigeration systems, which are critical to our manufacturing and general operations. CFCs, when released to the atmosphere, have ozone-depleting properties, which may contribute to global warming and be harmful to humans and the environment.

In 1989, in support of the Montreal Protocol and in accordance with the U.S. Clean Air Act, TI developed a standard designed to phase out the use of Class I ozone depleting substances (ODSs) worldwide at TI. The rules separately addressed the use of ODSs in manufacturing and the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used primarily in closed-loop refrigeration systems.

The use of CFCs in manufacturing was eliminated worldwide by 1993, with the exception of closed system processes such as process chillers, environmental test chambers and kitchen refrigeration equipment, which are permissible under the law.

Because CFCs in closed-loop systems leaked very little into the atmosphere and would have been exceedingly expensive to replace, we designed a CFC refrigerant recycling program. The program enabled a gradual phaseout of equipment using refrigerants.

The recycling program first banned the purchase of CFC-emitting refrigerants, encouraging instead the reuse of existing equipment that had been decommissioned. At the time, TI had more than 200 water chillers for large facilities and more than 5,000 pieces of smaller equipment such as kitchen supplies, environmental test chambers, and drinking fountains.

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2007 performance

By the end of 2007, TI had reduced the number of large chillers from 204 to 39 through replacement, retirement, conversion to alternative refrigerants and the sale of some facilities. This reduction not only significantly reduced the amount of CFCs that could be accidentally released to the atmosphere, but also significantly increased the efficiency of the average chiller, resulting in less energy consumption and lower operating costs.

TI's operations in Europe were the first to complete a CFC elimination program, replacing their last chiller in 2003. TI Asia is close to completing their program as well, with only one remaining CFC chiller.

In addition to tracking the number of chillers using CFCs that remain in the region, TI also strictly monitors the regional leak rate. Should this leak rate exceed 10 percent, TI enforces a more stringent set of mitigation requirements.

In 2007, TI's worldwide CFC refrigerant leak rate remained flat, at less than 3.5 percent.

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