The Green

Green innovation is steadily spreading throughout all types of industries. Even the companies that make the silicon chips that are probably running your computer have started to adapt commercially efficient manufacturing processes.

For example, the director of corporate responsibility at Intel, Dave Stangis said, "We started with a green blueprint and designed in waste recycling, energy efficiency, water reuse and ways to take advantage of the sunlight." According to Stangis, the giant chip company has spent $23 million doing green renovations on their factories and have saved $38 million as a result of these green investments.

IBM is joining Intel in the march towards green by repurposing old semiconductor wafers with a cheap and safe process that cleans the silicon wafers for use in solar panels. Solar companies are very interested in buying silicon wafers as they are expensive and energy intensive to produce. IBM can afford to sell them competitively because the wafers themselves are a byproduct of their primary chip business.

Ultimately, this is another reason to feel good about using your computer. Computers save time and money in many ways, cutting down on transportation, packaging and allowing people to be more productive with their time. Now that the components of a computer are being produced more efficiently and less wastefully, the good feeling you get when you click on your favorite Mac or PC can become even stronger.