Life cycle assessment of high-technology buildings: Energy consumption and associated environmental impacts of wafer fabrication plants

Abstract

Effective environmental control and energy efficiency in high-technology buildings have become an important subject of investigations across continents since the last decades. This study aims to quantify energy use and associated environmental impact of four high-technology buildings for wafer fabrication in a subtropical region of Asia using life cycle assessment techniques. Wafer fabrication process and its energy and steam consumption were associated with “summer smog,” “heavy metals,” and “acidification potential” on the environment. All fabs used natural gas, diesel oil, and steam, which together accounted for about 5% of the total energy consumption. Two metrics – production efficiency index (PEI) and the electricity utilization index (EUI) were used to characterize and normalize environmental impact of each of the four high-technology buildings within which dynamic random access memory (DRAM) wafers were manufactured. The GHG emissions in PEI and EUI have declined from 601g to 367g (by 39%) and from 28.9g to 13.7g (by 53%), respectively, between 1999 and 2007. Energy intensity per unit area of wafer production has increased from 195 to 268 associated with a 37% increase in emission rate of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) from 195kg to 268kg (by 73kg) per unit area of wafers produced.