Texas Instrument’s is a large technologies manufacturer. The company has been in business for around 80 years [1]. Last year they reported $14 billion dollars in revenue, so they are a major part of the technologies industry. They were also the first semiconductor company to earn certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for constructing environmentally responsible manufacturing facilities. I had the pleasure to tour one of these facilities. The Richardson FAB, or RFAB, is a LEED Gold building. The building is around 284,000 square/feet and its construction cost around $330 million dollars. Designing the building was difficult, because they were forced to start from scratch instead of using the designs of their already built facilities. This ended up being the perfect opportunity for them to attempt to create new features that would be better for the environment.
Here Are Some of the Amazing Things the Facility has Accomplished
· Water Efficiency: reduced water usage by 44%, which saves 1,000,000 gallons of water a day· Energy and Atmosphere: The Central Utility Plant is not air-conditioned, it uses a passive cooling technique to keep the temperature to around 83 degrees in the summertime
· Materials and Resources: 89% of the debris from the RFAB’s construction was recycled, diverting 3,890 tons of waste away from the landfill
· Indoor Environmental Quality: All materials contain low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to reduce gas emissions and carbon dioxide sensors determine the level in fresh indoor fresh air
Hopefully the tremendous strides that TI has done will become well known and emulated throughout the industry. Sharing the technologies might not be good for business, but it would be great for the environment.
Environmental Education Center
“Live Green in Plano” is their message [2]. The Environmental Education Center in Plano is all about teaching anyone who wants to learn about what they can do to help the environment. As I took my tour I saw something that I thought I would never see; a bunch of older kids gardening. They all had gloves on and were pulling weeds, raking, planting, and composting. It was like they were learning the good old fashion way; by doing. Usually, kids their age always look bored and glues to their preferred handheld devices. But these kids looked proud and looked like they were having fun. It was the first thing I noticed about the center and the most impressive. Unfortunately, we did not get to speak to the kids. The tour was for us to learn about the center’s sustainable features. The building is built to LEED Platinum standards. It was not very big, but it was jammed full of sustainable technology. Almost everything in the center was built with the environment in mind. There were lots of signs around the facility that educated people about the various technologies and how they worked.
Presently, one of the difficulties surrounding sustainable development is the lack of knowledge about what is available. The average person has a lot to learn about it and with more places like this education center this difficulty will soon become a thing of the past.
Trinity River Audubon Center
What was once a landfill full of trash is now a treasure for all to enjoy. That, in a nut shell, is what the Trinity River Audubon Center is [3]. Dating back many years ago, the place was a landfill. Even after it was closed, it was still being filled with loads of waste. In 1997, the landfill’s tires caught on fire and the city let them burn. As can be expected, the citizens were not pleased and filed for a class action lawsuit and won. The court ordered the city to clean the site up. It took around 8 years, but eventually they did. The place was turned into what it is today; a nature center and the largest urban hardwood forest in the U.S. – 6,000 acres. The place has lots of exhibits and prides itself on demonstrating how a municipal liability can be transformed into something that can be enjoyed by everyone.
SOURCES:
[1] http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/csr[2] http://www.plano.gov/departments/environmental%20services/Pages/default.aspx
[3] http://www.trinityriveraudubon.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Home
PICs:
[a] examiner.com[b] plano.gov
[c] http://www.trinityriveraudubon.org
No comments:
Post a Comment