Defining Sustainability for Resource Intensive Facilities

The concept of "Green" building has attained heightened significance due to reported degradation in the world's climate. This "Green" concept is finding increased acceptability throughout the world and its importance is even being recognized in different sectors of the construction industry. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the US Green Building Council, is a criteria developed to rate different types of construction and has achieved success in optimizing the energy and environmental performance of various types of facilities. High Performance Facilities, such as semiconductors manufacturing facilities, data centers, and healthcare, are special construction projects with regard to this concept. LEED for Building Construction and Design (LEED BC+D) has been used for assessing the performance of resource use in facilities, but modifications and improvements to the current LEED rating system are needed to help define and construct high performance, resource intensive facilities. This paper outlines a foundation for defining the parameters to help develop resource efficient facilities, specifically semiconductor fabrication 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, and in design and construction techniques. It identifies areas to address when developing criteria to rate facilities that are resource intensive. This framework could be extended to data centers and healthcare facilities.