TI spent the year examining local water issues, as internal investigations revealed that some information gaps existed across our sites. However, the review also confirmed our belief that water availability and related regulations do not pose substantial or material risks to our operations.
We invested three times more in water conservation programs in 2010 over the previous year, which saved twice as much water (122 million gallons) and $644,500.
Globally, TI's total water use increased 18 percent due to increased production and the addition of three new manufacturing sites. We reused 1.5 billion gallons of water in 2010, or enough to fill 2,273 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Reuse and recycling accounts for 27 percent of our water consumption – an average of nearly 4.1 million gallons of water every day.
Over the past five years TI has reduced the source water needed to manufacture a chip by 37 percent. Approximately 7 percent of that reduction is due to projects implemented to reduce use or reuse water. The balance of the reduction is due to more efficient product manufacturing: smaller chip designs developed on larger wafers.
Also in 2010, TI:
Conducted a global survey to assess site water supply and discharge information. We found that no sites sourced more than 5 percent of water from protective or sensitive areas, and all reported that abundant water supplies existed in their regions.
Received the Dallas Water Utilities Blue Thumb Award for excellent compliance records from the City of Dallas.
Looking ahead to the next five years, TI has set an internal goal to improve water efficiency by 15 percent through conservation projects and operational improvements (up from 7 percent in the previous five years). This, combined with process improvements, will reduce the water required to manufacture a chip by 45 percent.
In 2011, TI’s primary objective is to identify the most innovative water reduction and reuse projects across the company, and begin applying these practices worldwide where feasible. Our sustainability strategy team earmarked $10 million for water and energy conservation projects, and set an internal goal to reduce water use companywide by 5 percent.
