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2011 Corporate Citizenship Report

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Innovative conservation

Conservation | Reuse and recycling | Education

TI's water sources include surface water, groundwater and even collected rainwater, so we are sensitive to our potential impact on the water needs of communities where we operate. To evaluate and monitor water quality and availability, we periodically consult with local water authorities to assess their long-term storage and usage needs.

For example, our Texas sites, which make up the largest concentration of our operations, stay connected with the Texas Water Development Board and its survey activities.

We also routinely identify and implement mechanisms that improve water reuse and reduce overall consumption. These innovations – from installing waterless urinals to collecting rainwater for landscape irrigation – have made TI one of the more efficient water users among industry peers. (We benchmark our water use with other members of the Semiconductor Industry Association.)

In our manufacturing operations alone, we reclaim and recycle more than 20 percent of the water used worldwide. This water is directed back into our system to be used in cooling towers, scrubbers or again in manufacturing.

Additionally, different locations present unique opportunities for creatively conserving water. Some of our water projects include:

Conservation

  • We reduce water alkalinity (pH) in two Dallas cooling towers to prevent calcium buildup and scaling along the tower walls. As a result, less water is needed to flush the mineral-concentrated water. This activity alone saves more than 74 million gallons of water each year and also reduces treatment costs.
  • During a water optimization activity at our South Building in Dallas, we identified where water flows could be reduced or shut off entirely. By making adjustments, we saved approximately 7 million gallons of water.
  • Our Freising, Germany, site optimized its water purification plant and saves more than 16 million gallons per year.
  • Three sites in Dallas installed water recirculation units on thermal processing equipment, which saves more than 99 million gallons annually.

Reuse and recycling

  • The central utility plant cooling towers reused roughly 132 million gallons of water from various sources at the Dallas site.
  • The Baguio City site in the Philippines reuses reverse-osmosis reject water for toilet flushing, saving 24 million gallons per year. Another site in the Philippines reuses nonindustrial water for flushing and saves 5.5 million gallons per year.
  • Two of our sites in Japan (Miho and Hiji) strictly adhere to a zero-impact, zero-industrial discharge policy in response to community desires. Most water at these sites is reused, with the rest used as cooling water for air-conditioning facilities.
  • Air abatement systems use water to "scrub" manufacturing exhaust. In 2011, TI reused about 108 million gallons of water in our North Texas abatement systems alone.
  • We recycle reverse-osmosis reject water at our DMOS5 deionized water plant in Dallas. We clean up reject water and then send it back to the front of the water plant as feed water. This effort reduces consumption by about 62 million gallons per year.

Education

TI educates its workforce on how to reduce the size of its water footprint through the company's internal sustainability website, periodic intranet articles and educational activities during events such as Earth Week. We encourage employees to report leaks, reduce the amount of time they let water run unnecessarily, and stop filling containers with water they don't drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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