Sustainability: Environmental responsibility: Energy management

Manufacturing the billions of semiconductor chips TI produces annually requires critical resources such as energy, water and other materials. The majority of the energy we use is in semiconductor manufacturing, during which many tools operate 24 hours a day. Our energy use comprises sources characterized as direct (such as natural gas used on-site) and indirect (such as electricity purchased off-site).

TI takes a holistic approach to energy efficiency and conservation, from the way it uses energy to the products it manufactures. For decades, we have invested in efficiency projects and nurtured a work culture dedicated to reducing energy consumption. Today, on average, we implement more than 100 such projects annually that help us build, operate and manufacture more efficiently. These efforts reduce our carbon footprint and collectively save an average of more than $5 million each year.

Energy strategy

Our manufacturing operations account for about 90 percent of TI's total energy use and are the focal point for our global energy strategy, which includes efforts to:

Systematically improve efficiencies

    • We set and track performance to resource conservation goals as part of our environmental, safety and health (ESH) management system.
    • We design new buildings and upgrade our existing equipment, operating systems and buildings to be more efficient.
    • We invest annually in conservation measures.

Manage costs of purchasing energy

    • We work to secure reliable energy supplies for our facilities at competitive prices, utilizing a portfolio of contract types to leverage pricing trends and to reduce price risk.
    • We use thermal energy storage systems where cost effective, to change the profile of our energy use, making TI’s energy consumption more attractive to generators, and in turn, reducing our cost. These systems store chilled water that is produced at off-peak hours for use during peak energy consumption hours. 
    • Although we currently see much better financial return and reduced environmental impact from reducing energy use (through operations efficiency), we continue to evaluate the purchase of electricity generated from renewable resources and the installation of renewable generation on-site.

Manufacture and use efficient products

    • We design and manufacture products that enable efficiency, such as intelligent technologies that help utilities reduce costs and power consumption and improve how energy demand is monitored and managed.
    • We look for ways to integrate and use our technologies in our own facilities to improve operating efficiency, such as installing LED lighting made with semiconductors, which is twice as efficient as fluorescent lighting.
    • We invest in strategic research and development and applied engineering projects with industrial partners. While the nature of these projects is typically confidential, the focus of certain projects is energy and water conservation within our manufacturing processes.

Involve employees

    • We promote energy efficiency to employees through consistent communications, leadership support, educational activities and global awareness-building events such as Earth Day.
    • We recognize resource conservation efforts in our annual ESH Excellence Awards, given to our facilities that best embody and demonstrate ESH principles. These awards are one way we internally recognize continuous improvement.

Increasing efficiency

Some of the key ways we maximize energy efficiency include:

Manufacturing equipment

    • In our wafer fabs, the manufacturing tools directly consume approximately half of a facility's total energy. As a result, we continuously evaluate upgrading our equipment to more efficient models.
    • We look for methods to reduce the standby energy used by manufacturing equipment.

Central utilities plant equipment

    • Our central plant equipment operations – chillers, boilers, pumps, air compressors, and cooling towers – constitute the second most energy-intensive process at TI. Our facilities' engineering teams routinely evaluate the efficiency of this equipment. They retrofit, replace or change components where cost-effective.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning

    • We save energy by replacing or upgrading air-handling units, fans, coils and valves, as well as control equipment. In many cases, we reduce energy consumed by existing equipment simply by changing control programming.
    • We reduce the volume of exhaust consumed. This not only significantly reduces the power consumed by the exhaust equipment, but it also reduces the amount of fresh air that needs to be drawn in and conditioned, reducing its associated energy consumption.

Building envelopes

    • Using reflective roofs to reduce heat gain is an effective energy reduction strategy. As existing roofs age, we replace them with reflective roofs.
    • We install well-insulated windows and walls in our new construction projects.
    • We carefully place and shade windows to reduce unwanted heat gain but preserve ample daylight.

Lighting

    • Lighting controls and sensors, many of which are made possible through our technology, are among the more cost-effective approaches to saving energy. We continually upgrade to more efficient fixtures to reduce consumption and have begun to transition to LED lighting.

Data centers, office and computer equipment

    • Although they collectively consume only about 5 percent of our global energy footprint, we consolidate our data centers and upgrade servers, when feasible, to lower their energy use.
    • The continued migration to laptop and LCD monitors has helped reduce energy use in our offices, along with updating energy-saving settings on computers.
    • Central printers and scanners have replaced most desktop printers.