Issue 23: February 2003

Microchip has macro impact on
environment, UNU study finds

Microchips have a macro impact on the environment, according to a new study by the IT and Environment Initiative of the UN University Environment and Sustainable Development Programme.

The study, entitled The 1.7 kg microchip: energy and materials use in the production of semiconductor devices, was published in the December 15, 2002 issue of the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology.

The research, which investigates use of materials in the microchip production processes, finds that it takes 1.2 kg of fossil fuels and 72 grams of chemicals to make a tiny 2 gram 32MB memory chip. Add 400 grams of fossil fuel  to generate the electricity consumed during the use phase and the total for that one small chip comes to about 1.7 kg of fossil fuels and chemicals. And that's not counting the 32kg of water required to make each chip.

The study concludes that not only are the environmental impacts of making a chip much larger than its small size suggests but chips are much more input intensive that traditional products. The ratio of production inputs to the final product is about 630 for a memory chip compared with only about 2 for an automobile or 4-5 for an aluminum can. Industry, government and the public should work to minimize environmental impacts and maximize the benefits of computers, the report recommends.

The results of the study have been extensively covered by the scientific, business and popular media, including BBC, Nature, Scientific American, Financial Times, Business Week, Science News as well as a number of national and regional newspapers around the world.

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