Re: [asa] Ban on computers reportedly wanted.

This thread needs to be wrapped up and closed out with same clarifications and corrections.
First of all, this quote was not attributed. It comes from Cate Gable's book, "Information Technology Meet Global Ecology" written around 2000. Unfortunately Gable's footnote is woefully incomplete. It seems as if Ryan and Durning never wrote a book called Chips Ahoy. Or at least Google can't find it. They are environmentalists in the northwestern USA and in 1997 wrote a book called "Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things". In that book, they identify the resources used in producing ten common items, such as a hamburger and an automobile. Chapter 8 of their book is on computers but I couldn't find a copy to see if these data come from that chapter.

In any case, the data are way out of date. And it isn't really proper to speak of resources for one wafer. Typically, optimum production volumes are around 50,000 wafers a month or more. You can't make just one.

It is true that in its early days, the semiconductor industry had environmental control problems. There are still some early sites that are pumping aquifers to reduce the carbon tet concentrations. And way too many of the fabs I visited in the 80's had more chemical odors than they should have. But the situation has changed drastically. In the last few years all new production sites are geared for 12-inch wafers and there is a tremendous increase in efficiency in the use of chemicals and other consumables. And water recycling and reuse have become far more common. I no longer know the precise numbers but it's not too hard to show the net benefit. The free market economy works pretty well in providing the manufacturers with an incentive to reduce waste. Sometimes it takes too long and needs some help. But the system eventually works.

Randy

P.S. the subject line was also in considerable error. No one suggested that. It seems to have been raised as a "what will they do next" issue.

"..the very act of manufacturing a computer degrades the environment by using massive amounts of resources-clean water, intensive labor in clean rooms-and producing toxic waste in quantities that far outweigh any potential positive effects that one computer could have on the world.

In fact, these are the resources used to make one 8-inch wafer:

4,267 cubic feet of bulk gases
3,787 gallons of waste water
27 pounds of chemicals
29 cubic feet of hazardous gases
9 pounds of hazardous waste
3,023 gallons of de-ionized water

Not only is semiconductor manufacturing the worst air polluting industry, it also uses several million gallons of water a day."

Excerpted from "Chips Ahoy: The hidden toll of computer manufacture and use," by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning:

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Received on Sun Apr 8 19:33:34 2007