2011 performance

• Further reduction of nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions by phasing out old equipment at U.S. sites and using advanced burner technology and abatement systems.
• Assessing facility systems, including air quality controls, at the Japan and China sites we acquired in late 2010, and working to address any existing gaps.

Results

• Continued to retire large manufacturing chillers that used CFC refrigerants. We reduced our CFC refrigerant leak rate from 7.27 percent in 2010 to 4.8 percent. Seven chillers out of 33 were decommissioned, which reduced our inventory by 20 percent.
• Increased volatile organic compounds emissions in the U.S. by 3 percent, primarily due to the ramp-up of a manufacturing facility in Richardson, Texas. U.S. NOx emissions increased by 9 percent, primarily due to a gas curtailment that required us to use fuel oil no. 2 for our boilers. This also increased sulfur emissions.
• Reported an increase in permitted air releases from our U.S. sites (due to increased production) to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (2010 data was submitted in July 2011).

Looking ahead

• Work to comply with a new U.S. NOx-reduction regulation that places limitations on diesel-powered generator maintenance and requires documentation of such activities. We are currently ahead of schedule to comply with this requirement.
• Continue to monitor emerging legislation that may impact our air-management programs.
• Upgrade our environmental data-collection system to capture more robust air-emission performance information globally.
• Seek opportunities to replace or retire our remaining 26 chillers.
• Integrate emissions data from former National Semiconductor U.S. facilities into our report to the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory.