Decoupling economic growth from carbon dioxide emissions is crucial to fighting climate change.
Decarbonization is a crucial global initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to mitigate climate change and transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy. The primary goal of decarbonization is to reduce or eliminate CO2 emissions and other GHGs associated with human activities. The combustion of fossil fuels—the primary source of carbon emissions—releases significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming. To effectively combat climate change, it’s crucial to decouple economic growth from GHG emissions, ultimately achieving a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative state.
The semiconductor industry contributes substantially to global GHG emissions. Global CO2 emissions increased by 0.9% in 2020, with 37,000 gigatons of CO2 emitted, according to reports. The use of renewable energy and the transition to electric vehicles helped avoid 550 million tons of CO2 emissions, even though the increase in emissions has been less than anticipated.
Net–zero GHG emissions
SCHURTER Leading the Way Towards Greener Electronics Manufacturing
Due to the energy needed to produce chips and the specifications of the manufacturing processes, reducing GHG emissions is one of the semiconductor industry’s most difficult tasks. The need to expand the semiconductor ecosystem globally to meet the escalating chip demand adds to this complexity. To achieve net zero, new designs that don’t exist must be found, created and tested.
To create a more sustainable computer future, Intel, one of the biggest semiconductor firms in the world, is strengthening its long-standing ecosystem partnership. In April last year, CEO Pat Gelsinger announced Intel’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions across its operations, known as Scope 1 and Scope 2, by 2040. Intel has made major investments in various processes, including chemical substitution, abatement, energy conservation, process enhancement and renewable and alternative energy sources. As a result, Intel’s cumulative GHG emissions over the past 10 years have fallen by more than 80%.
Intel is also committed to addressing climate impacts across its upstream and downstream value chain, or Scope 3 emissions. The company’s Scope 3 strategy focuses on forming partnerships with suppliers and customers to implement aggressive measures to reduce overall emissions.
Renewable energy transition
Shifting from fossil-fuel–based energy sources to renewable energy is a key aspect of decarbonization. Renewable energy technologies, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power, generate electricity with minimal or zero GHG emissions. Governments and private entities must invest in developing and deploying renewable energy infrastructures to drive this transition.
Intel is increasing its commitment to sustainability by investing in solar- and wind-generated renewable electricity. According to Intel, it exceeded 93% of global renewable electricity consumption by the end of 2022. In addition, the company has collaborated with industry and academic institutions to develop semiconductor-processing alternatives and energy efficiency across the value chain, established standard reporting metrics, increased energy efficiency and decreased the total carbon footprint of products and platforms.
Intel has over 110 alternative and renewable electricity installations, with a combined capacity of over 50,000 kW across 22 campuses, which employ distinct technologies, including solar water-heating and -cooling systems, solar electric photovoltaic (PV)-covered parking lots, solar windows, mini bioenergy, motion power, geothermal energy and micro wind turbine array systems.
The company is also in collaboration with various business organizations, such as SEMI, the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the Semiconductor Climate Consortium. This newly formed organization brings semiconductor industry suppliers, manufacturers, designers and customers together to accelerate solutions for reducing GHG emissions.
The Green Industrial Power division
In April 2023, Infineon Technologies renamed its sector that provides power electronics solutions to Green Industrial Power (GIP) to demonstrate its commitment to the decarbonization of its industrial application sectors (see Figure 1). The reason for renaming this sector to GIP is to emphasize the company’s commitment to green-energy transition and to reflect and empower a world where natural energy sources provide limitless energy.
Infineon is working in the fields of wind energy and solar power, with its power semiconductors establishing the standard for higher levels of efficiency throughout the entire energy-conversion chain. The concentration on the industrial sector has proved highly successful. It’s anticipated to continue to grow, with the decarbonization of energy supplies and mobility leading to the expansion of renewable energy, grid expansion and charging infrastructures.
The transition to non-fossil energy sources must accelerate faster if decarbonization objectives are to be met, according to Infineon. This acceleration is primarily because renewable energy resources have become competitive, making them attractive to invest in and implement, be they PV or wind.
Although the initial investment in renewable energy sources is substantial, the long-term cost savings and reduced emissions make it a commercially beneficial investment. Renewable energy storage is a challenge that must be addressed, and the price of electrical storage is decreasing due to technological advancements. Hydrogen is also an option for energy storage with a high energy density, and it can be produced from renewable electricity used in the combustion process, making it a carbon-free energy source.
Energy efficiency
Improving energy efficiency across various sectors plays a vital role in decarbonization. By reducing energy consumption through efficient technologies and practices, the demand for energy production decreases, leading to a corresponding decline in carbon emissions. Energy-efficient buildings, transportation systems and industrial processes are instrumental in achieving this objective.
To completely realize the potential of renewable energy sources, improvements in the efficiency of energy generation, transmission and consumption must occur simultaneously. PV is anticipated to become the world’s primary energy source by 2025 due to anticipated cost reductions.
Infineon boasts that 50% of all installed wind farms are powered by their semiconductors, claiming to be the leading semiconductor-enabled enterprise in the field of energy generation. The generated electricity must be efficiently transformed and distributed to all consumers with minimal losses, necessitating energy infrastructure. Infineon views green energy as a sector with double-digit development, which will increase its annual growth opportunities to more than 10%.
Compared with the amount of energy consumed by humans, the potential of renewable energy sources like solar and wind is practically limitless. The transition toward green energy and novel materials, such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, presents the semiconductor industry with significant challenges and opportunities. The market forecast for 2023 indicates that automation, motors and renewable energy will experience substantial expansion. The future is sustainable, and renaming the industrial division is a step in the right direction.
Electrification
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries play a crucial role in the battle against climate change. Li-ion–based technology is widely used in EVs, which require lightweight, high-performance batteries capable of withstanding many charge/discharge cycles and storing intermittently produced renewable energy.
However, the basic materials necessary to produce Li-ion batteries will likely not be sufficient to meet the rising market demand and potential supply issues that could threaten the complete transition to electric mobility. Consequently, alternative technologies must be developed to address the impending paucity of raw materials.
Salient Energy, a company founded in 2017 in Waterloo, Canada, has developed a method for producing secure, affordable and environmentally friendly zinc-ion batteries for temporary storage in renewable energy plants. These facilities store pure electricity when it’s abundant and distribute it when required. Zinc is approximately 100× more abundant than lithium, and the production of zinc-ion reduces GHG emissions by two-thirds. Salient Energy reduces its reliance on hazardous and high-risk supply chains by utilizing metals mined, processed and manufactured exclusively in North America.
To decarbonize the global electricity system to prevent catastrophic climate change, we need a stationary energy-storage industry that utilizes as many batteries as the current EV industry within the next 10 years, according to Salient Energy. Because the EV industry is already causing a deficit in Li-ion raw materials within the market, it can’t serve as a solution.
Alternative battery technology is required to supplant Li-ion batteries. The zinc-ion battery manufactured by Salient Energy (see Figure 2) comprises zinc and manganese dioxide sourced from standard commercial sources. These are abundant, inexpensive and non-toxic materials. In addition, the innovative technology is founded on a water-based design that eliminates the risk of fire.
This article was originally published on EE Times.
Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio has a Ph.D. in Physics and is a Telecommunications Engineer. He has worked on various international projects in the field of gravitational waves research designing a thermal compensation system, x-ray microbeams, and space technologies for communications and motor control. Since 2007, he has collaborated with several Italian and English blogs and magazines as a technical writer, specializing in electronics and technology. From 2015 to 2018, he was the editor-in-chief of Firmware and Elettronica Open Source. Maurizio enjoys writing and telling stories about Power Electronics, Wide Bandgap Semiconductors, Automotive, IoT, Digital, Energy, and Quantum. Maurizio is currently editor-in-chief of Power Electronics News and EEWeb, and European Correspondent of EE Times. He is the host of PowerUP, a podcast about power electronics. He has contributed to a number of technical and scientific articles as well as a couple of Springer books on energy harvesting and data acquisition and control systems.