Sustainability for advanced technology facilities

The concept of "Green" building has been heightened in significance due to concerns regarding the world's climate. This "Green" concept is increasingly accepted throughout the world and its impact is being felt in different sectors of the construction industry. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is a standard to rate different facility types relative to optimizing energy and environmental performance. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities, commonly referred to as 'Fabs', are special construction projects. LEED for New Construction (LEED NC) has been used to assess performance of resource intensive facilities, but modifications and improvements to the current LEED rating system are needed to help better define and construct high performing resource intensive facilities. This paper outlines a foundation for defining the parameters to help develop resource efficient facilities. This includes understanding the resource requirements of the semiconductors manufacturing facilities and how they differ from other facilities in terms of water and energy requirements. It identifies potential areas that need to be addressed when developing criteria to rate resource intensive facilities. Copyright ASCE 2009.