A brief narrative on how RFAB came to be
In 2003, Texas Instruments announced it had selected a location in Richardson, Texas as the site for its next major semiconductor manufacturing plant. This site came to be known as RFAB , short for Richardson Fabrication. Before any design funding was approved for the construction of the facility, a small group of employees (TIers) began investigating sustainable design. They gathered information, compiled data and brainstormed ideas. The team generated a number of "white papers" on various topics related to sustainability. These papers looked beyond the surface of the simple payback economic analysis to understand the true overall return on investment.

TI defines sustainability as: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs by considering long-term economic, environmental and social impact in the way we operate today.” Or simply, according to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: "Development that balances people, profit, and the planet."

Garnering support by starting small
As the research team began to understand what was possible in their drive toward sustainable design, they knew they needed to solicit management support. A research team member offered TI’s senior vice president of manufacturing a tour of his passive/active solar house . While the tour provided a good primer on sustainable design, it was the low operating cost that really caught the executive’s attention. He wanted to know first and foremost, “How much of this design process scales up to a large facility?” The answer: “All of it!” The conversation ended with one last question, “What do you need to make this happen?”

Addressing cost challenges through innovation
In parallel with the drive to design a sustainable facility, the TI Worldwide Construction organization was challenged with trimming the cost of the new facility by 30 percent over the previous 300mm wafer fab. This turned out to be an advantage for the sustainability team because it required a new fab concept instead of just duplicating previous designs. This meant that sustainable features could be incorporated into the site plans from the start.

About a month before design funds were approved, more than 30 TIers convened with a dozen folks brought in by Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). The team held a 3-day design charrette to brainstorm ideas, then analyze and prioritize them. This list was dubbed the "Big Honkin' Ideas." It was also during the charrette that the team first seriously considered using the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™.

Making concept a reality
The LEED documents served as a template and people rallied around the idea of scoring points for sustainable design. When the TI design team was named a month later, they had a general blueprint from which to work. A concept drawing was developed by the AMA Group, with many of the important sustainable architectural goals integrated into the concept.

In the end, most of the Big Honkin' Ideas were incorporated along with dozens of other items that came from the charrette.