The vote by the California Air Resources Board is among early steps state officials are taking to comply with AB 32, the 2006 law championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to lower total greenhouse gas emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020.
The regulations target the use of fluorinated gases in processing blank wafers into finished chips that are installed in computers, cell phones and cars. The state has 85 semiconductor plants, most in the Bay Area.
Fluorinated gases such as sulfur hexafluoride and nitrogen trifluoride are among the most potent contributors to global warming. The gases covered by the regulations approved Thursday trap heat in the atmosphere at 6,500 to 23,900 times the rate of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, according to the air board.
Regulators say other, less harmful gases can be used instead, at a small cost to semiconductor firms. The air board estimates the annual cost of compliance with the new rules at $37 million over 10 years; the brunt of that total would fall on 13 semiconductor companies that operate 16 plants currently not in compliance with the new emissions target. Among them: Universal Semiconductor, Linear Technology Corp. and Intel's Mission Campus.
More:
- CARB Homepage
- Intel's Climate Change Policy, May 2007, and Annual Performance Indicators
- AMD's updated Climate Protection Goals, Nov. 2008
- Cisco's Al Gore take on GW, Mar. 2008
