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Silicon Green
What is Environmental or "Green Technology"?
Environmental technology or "green technology" (often abbreviated as "Green Tech") or clean technology (abbreviated as "Clean Tech") is the application of environmental sciences and technologies to conserve the natural environment and resources, and to reduce negative human impacts. Sustainable development is a key goal of environmental technologies. Sustainable and environmentally sensitive solutions also include goals that strive to be socially equitable, economically viable, and environmentally sound.
Silicon Green is the term we are using to describe the emergence of green technologies in Silicon Valley, a region defined more by a state of mind framed by technology and commerce than by geographic boundaries. Silicon Valley encompasses both Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
The most abundant element in the earth's crust is oxygen, making up 46.6% of the earth's mass. Silicon is the second most abundant element (27.7%), followed by aluminum (8.1%), iron (5.0%), calcium (3.6%), sodium (2.8%), potassium (2.6%). and magnesium (2.1%). These eight elements account for approximately 98.5% of the total mass of the earth's crust.
Silicon, while being a substance that comes from the earth, requires intensive processing before it can be used as a silicon chip. This processing and the industry built upon the use of silicon has led to enormous social and economic benefits, but has also resulted in profound negative environmental impacts.
Ron Chepesiuk reports the following:
"The materials are just part of the problem," pointed out JoLani Hironaka, director of the San Jose, California-based Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH), which works on behalf of computer chip industry workers in Santa Clara County, where Silicon Valley is located. "There has been a tremendous growth in the number of industries manufacturing chemicals and other materials used at computer chip plants and in the amount of waste generated in the production process."
According to Graydon Laraby of Texas Instruments, the manufacture of just one batch of chips requires on average 27 pounds of chemicals, 29 cubic feet of hazardous gases, nine pounds of hazardous waste, and 3,787 gallons of water, which requires extensive chemical treatment.
The semiconductor industry's environmental impact is well documented. Consider that Silicon Valley, the mother lode of the computer chip industry, has the country's largest number of EPA Superfund Priorities List sites (29) and that more than 100 different contaminants have been linked to the local drinking water. Historically, much of the liquid waste from chip making in Silicon Valley was stored in underground tanks, many of which leaked toxic waste into ground-water supplies.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is an organization engaged in research, advocacy and grassroots organizing to promote human health and environmental justice in response to the rapid growth of the high-tech industry. Click here to learn more about SVTC's Vision for a Sustainable Future.
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Investments in clean technology are growing exponentially since emerging as a significant market share in 2000.
According to an article in the New York Times, Stephen Levy, an economist with the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, said the growing demand for clean technologies might well make this emerging boom cycle a lasting trend. Developments on the legislative front may help stimulate that growth. California lawmakers set a goal of cutting the state's greenhouse emissions 25 percent by 2020. The Obama administration has recently removed federal obstacles to achieving this goal.
"Every time there's a new technology, Silicon Valley does pretty well," he said. "That's beginning to happen again."
Cleantech investments doubled in 2008
An analysis by GreenTech Media shows venture-capital investment into clean technologies such as solar doubled in 2008. Experts expect growth to slow significantly this year. Read more in SiliconValley.Com by clicking here.
Year Investment 2008$7.7 billion 2007$3.4 billion 2006$2.4 billion 2005$820 million
Source: GreenTech Media
The United Nations Environment Program reports that wind, solar and biofuel companies received a record $148 billion in new funding in 2007 as rising oil prices and climate change policies encouraged investment in renewable energy. Fifty billion dollars of that funding went to wind power. Overall, investment in clean-energy and energy-efficiency industries rose 60 percent from 2006 to 2007. In the United States, the clean tech industry is largely based in Silicon Valley.
There are many examples of how many leaders and industries in Silicon Valley are trying to become greener.
One example is the City of San Jose. Within 15 years, the City of San José, in tandem with its residents and businesses, has committed to:
- Creating 25,000 Clean Tech jobs and become the World Center of Clean Tech Innovation
- Reducing per capita energy use by 50 percent
- Receiving 100 percent of our electrical power from clean renewable sources
- Building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of green buildings
- Diverting 100 percent of the waste from the landfills and converting waste to energy
- Recycling or beneficially reusing 100 percent of our wastewater (100 million gallons per day)
- Adopting a General Plan with measurable standards for sustainable development
- Ensuring that 100 percent of public fleet vehicles run on alternative fuels
- Planting 100,000 new trees
- Replacing 100 percent of streetlights with smart, zero emission lighting
- Creating 100 miles of interconnected trails
Interested in knowing more? Here are some links and articles about green technology in Silicon Valley:
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Earth2Tech (GigaOm)
Bright Green Talent
Cleanloop.com
Cleantech.com
Clean Edge Jobs
American Solar Energy Society
GreenStart
GreenBiz
Renewable Energy World
Sustainable Business
Grist
EcoJobs
TreeHugger
GreenJobs
SustainJobs
Green Technology Portal and Network Sites
- Green, Inc., New York Times Energy and Green Business Blog: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/
- Yahoo Green Technology News: http://news.yahoo.com/topics/green-technology
- Green Technology Forum: http://www.greentechforum.net
- Web Urbanist: http://weburbanist.com/2008/06/09/modern-wonders-of-green-technology/
- New York Times Blog: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/
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Green Energy
- National Renewable Energy Laboratories (NREL):http://www.nrel.gov
- Rocky Mountain Institute: http://www.rmi.org
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory:http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/annual-report/2005-2006/files/01-energy-tech-1.html
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center:http://www.nersc.gov/
- Energy Star:http://www.energystar.gov/
- Green Power Network:http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/
- American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE):http://www.acore.org
- Oak National Laboratory Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program:http://www.ornl.gov/sci/eere/
- Sandia National Laboratory - Renewable Energy Office:http://www.sandia.gov/Renewable_Energy/renewable.htm
- Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (UC Berkeley):http://rael.berkeley.edu/aboutrael.html
- Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (University of Massachusetts)
http://www.ceere.org/rerl/ - Idaho National Laboratory:http://www.inl.gov/renewableenergy/
- Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority:http://www.nelha.org/about/gateway.html
- Renewable Energy Access:http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com
- National Association of Energy Service Companies:http://www.naesco.org/
Green Building
- US Green Building Council:http://www.usgbc.org/
- US EPA: Green Building:http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/
- Sustainable Buildings Industry Council:http:www.sbic.org
- World Green Building Council:http://www.worldgbc.org/
- California Integrated Waste Management Board: Green Building Basics:http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/greenbuilding/Basics.htm
- California Commissioning Collaborative:http://www.cacx.org/
- Building Commissioning Association:http://www.bcxa.org/
- Whole Building Design Guide:http://www.wbdg.org/
Green Purchasing
- Recycled Content Product Directory (California Integrated Waste Management Board):www.ciwmb.ca.gov/RCP
- Best Practices Manual (Green California):http://www.green.ca.gov/EPP/Introduction/default.htmCalifornia Integrated Waste Management Board:http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/EPP/
- US EPA: Environmentally Preferable Purchasing:http://www.epa.gov/epp/
- Database of Environmental Information for Products and Services (US EPA):http://yosemite1.epa.gov/oppt/eppstand2.nsf/Pages/Homepage.html?Open
Green Nanotechnology
- Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies:http://nanotechproject.org/
- US EPA Perspective Factsheet:http://es.epa.gov/ncer/nano/factsheet/
- Foresight Nanotech Institute:http://www.foresight.org/
Green Chemistry
- US EPA: Green Chemistry Program: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/
- Center for Green Chemistry: Universityof Massachusetts Lowell: http://www.greenchemistry.uml.edu/
- Green Chemistry Institute: http://www.chemistry.org/greenchemistryinstitute/
- Chemalliance.org: http://www.chemalliance.org/Columns/050520.asp
