Intel Awarded Green Building Cert For Design Facility

Chip maker Intel said it has received its first green building certification for a new design facility in Haifa, Israel which incluses a Xeon-based data centre.

The design centre, which is set to open in June, has been awarded a Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification and is the first building in Israel to do so.

Built on land previously used as a parking lot, the new facility includes a range of energy-saving systems including an automatic system for measuring carbon dioxide levels in the office space. The facility, known as IDC 9, also has a data centre based on Xeon processor servers which the company claims will help it achieve savings of around $200,000 (£130,000).

“Intel is committed to incorporating principles of sustainability into the construction of new facilities as well as making strategic improvements to our existing locations so that they may meet the highest standards,” said Brian Krzanich, senior vice president and general manager of Manufacturing and Supply Chain for Intel.

Given the high summer temperatures experienced in the Haifa, Intel faced challenges in cooling the facility. Measures to insulate the building include a rooftop garden which the company said helps to prevent excess heat from being retained. Also lighting and air conditioning systems are individually controlled helping to reduce wasted energy from cooling or lighting non-productive areas.

Individual air-conditioning

According to Intel, IDC 9’s sustainable design has resulted in a 17 percent reduction in total building energy compared with normal buidlings based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2007 standard.

Environmental group Greenpeace has praised Intel on its record of using renewable energy in the past but states that the company needs to detail its plans for the future. “Intel is the leading purchaser of renewable energy credits in the United States, accounting for 46 percent of their electricity use. To keep full points, Intel needs to establish timelines for 2012, and also clarify the additionality of its renewable energy credits (RECs),” Greenpeace states.

Intel and other semiconductor makers are under pressure to improve the environmental credentials due to the large amount of water and other materials consumed in the chip production process. “A typical semiconductor factory makes about 2 million integrated circuits per month and gulps about 20 million gallons of water, which ultimately must be disposed of as waste,” a long-standing Stanford University study states. “Chip makers also use large amounts of energy and many toxic chemicals, all of which can harm the environment.”

In a report released to coincide with the US launch of the Apple iPad last month, Greenpeace did not criticise the device directly but rather the “cloud” infrastructure which supports it. “At current growth rates data centres and telecommunication networks will consume about 1,963 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2020,” the group said. “That is more than triple their current consumption and more than the current electricity consumption of France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined.”