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Water use
Innovative conservation | 2008 performance
Water is crucial to semiconductor manufacturing. It is also critical to the quality of life in the communities where TI operates, which is why we work to use this precious resource as efficiently as possible, reducing water use through conservation, reclamation and reuse.
Our environmental goal of "zero wasted resources" drives how we plan for and monitor water use, and how efficiently we actually use it. Each TI site maintains a water management system that is both OHSAS 18001- and ISO 14001-compliant, even if a site has not yet been certified. The Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) and International Standardization Organization (ISO) are internationally recognized certification bodies that establish environmental management criteria. Each TI site also monitors its own progress for fair water use and conservation.
Innovative conservation
We strike a balance between our own water needs and those of surrounding communities. As a practical consideration, when selecting the location of a new site, we consider whether the area has sufficient stores of water. We review both water quality and quantity during site selection, long before construction begins.
Additionally, we consult with local water authorities to assess the long-term storage and use needs where we operate. For example, our Texas sites stay connected with the Texas Water Development Board and its survey activities.
Water conservation is an important part of our day-to-day operations. Our water use comes from a combination of surface water, groundwater and collected rainwater.
Over the years, TI has identified and implemented a number of mechanisms to improve water reuse and reduce overall usage. These innovations have made TI one of the more efficient water users among industry peers. Our water projects include:
- A deionized water recycling/reuse system at our Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, manufacturing site, which saved approximately 7 million gallons of water per month in 2008, almost double the 2007 savings.
- An indoor climate-control system at our Freising, Germany site pumps cold water from an underground aquifer and cycles it through a heating/cooling system, beneficially using the water as a closed-loop heat exchanger. This water is kept separate from all other plant water and processes, which means that it is just as clean when it is returned to the aquifer as it was when it was originally extracted. By using the well-water cooling system, TI saves an estimated 33 million gallons of water annually. The reduced water use and subsequent reduced need for roughly 8,400 megawatt hours in energy annually results in a combined savings of almost $1 million each year.
- TI Japan strictly adheres to its own zero-impact, zero-industrial discharge policy to preserve certain fish populations, which are prized community assets. Most water at the site is reused, and the rest is used as cooling water for air-conditioning facilities.
- In 2008, a project at our DMOS6 manufacturing facility in Dallas diverted various hood rinses from industrial wastewater lines to offset city water use in such areas as abatement devices, cooling towers and scrubbers. This project is saving more than 12 million gallons of water per year.
- The central utility plant’s cooling tower at our Dallas North Campus site is used to cool site manufacturing processes and HVAC systems for our buildings. Approximately 71 percent of the water required for these activities is supplied by reused water on-site, which saves 145 million gallons per year. We save another 50 million gallons of water each year by using dilute sulfuric acid to reduce the tower water pH. The reduced pH limits scale formation, which improves tower efficiency, thereby reducing water use.
- Air abatement systems use water to "scrub" manufacturing exhaust. In 2008, TI reused about 228 million gallons of water in our North Texas abatement systems alone. The cost savings for the scrubber water reuse amounted to approximately $937,000, which is about 13 percent savings in our overall water cost.
2008 performance
 Our manufacturing facilities made progress during the year in improving water efficiency by identifying ways to reduce use and costs through improved tool efficiency and by investing in water conservation systems at sites worldwide. Our recycling and reuse practices in 2008 saved enough water to fill 2,381 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Globally, TI's total water use decreased 7.3 percent in 2008. Of our total water use, we recycled 1.4 billion gallons, or about 16 percent globally (an average of nearly 4 million gallons of water every day). Efficiency measures and conservation practices based on each site’s unique characteristics, costs, needs and available financial resources made this possible.
Despite our conservation efforts and our overall reduction in water usage, water use (per unit) at our assembly and test sites increased by 2.1 percent. However, water use at our fabrication facilities decreased by about 0.3 percent (on a per-wafer-shipped basis).
In 2009, TI plans to continue to explore opportunities for reducing water use through conservation and reuse activities.
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