LEIXLIP, Ireland, April 22, 2024 – As part of a commitment to sustainable construction, Intel Corporation obtained Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design ® (LEED) certification – the internationally recognised stamp of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council – for Fab 34 and its associated buildings which officially opened in Ireland in September 2023.
Securing a Gold-level rating – one of the highest-level LEED certifications – Fab 34 becomes one of the largest building projects in Europe to receive this level of recognition for sustainable construction and design.
The certification also represents a major milestone as Fab 34 becomes the first Intel fab to meet the Gold Rating for LEED Building Design and Construction.
The certification includes the Fab 34 manufacturing clean room, the process specific support systems building, the industrial waste treatment systems building and the process utility building.
Fab 34 represents an investment of 17-billion-euro and has been designed and constructed with a number of technologies and innovations to enhance sustainability;
Heat recovery – Fab 34 features buildings that harness the power of heat rather than expelling it. The buildings use a 9-to-1 ratio of recovered heat compared to heat generated by traditional methods, such as the use of fossil fuels. Rather than rejecting the heat through cooling towers, waste heat is captured from equipment and used to heat our cleanrooms and support buildings. This extensive heat recovery system also means that less water is required to dissipate heat to the environment, resulting in enhanced overall water conservation. With Fab 34 coming into operation, Intel Ireland now returns 92% of the water it takes in at its campus to the River Liffey.
Green House Gas (GHG) reduction – Fab 34 voluntarily implements point of use GHG reduction systems and energy conservation measures that provide a 63% net reduction to the overall GHG emissions of the facility.
Solid waste recycling - More than 298,000 tons of waste has been recycled since the beginning of the project.
Water conservation - Intel recycles water internally by diverting certain streams of process water from drain for use in facilities systems. In the new factory, Fab 34, Intel has installed an advanced ultra-pure reclaim water system to enable recovery of more process waters from the factory operations, which will increase the volume of water that can be re-used and hence reduce Intel's water demand. This results in process water re-use and conservation in excess of 275 million gallons per year.
More: Building a Sustainable Future in Ireland (Factsheet) | Intel’s New Fab in Ireland Begins High-Volume Production of Intel 4 Technology (News) | Intel Ireland Climate Action Plan 2023 (Report)
Speaking about the LEED Gold certification, Taimur Burki, Intel’s Circular Economy and Green Building Program Manager said “Given the complexity and scale of the Fab 34 project, it was an immense undertaking to design and construct this project to LEED Gold standard. The fact that we did it is a credit to the decades of wisdom and experience Intel has in pushing the envelope to improve. The design of Fab 34 has set the standard for our other new fabs around the world.”