Research for the NSF 426 Task Groups - Environmental Leadership
Standard for Servers
Contracted by:
International Sustainable Development Foundation (ISDF) in
cooperation with the Green Electronics Council (GEC)
Research
Conducted by:
Sea Green Tree S.L ([email protected]) and
Hansheng Ltd ([email protected])
Task:
#1 - Energy efficient manufacturing practice
Research
Question:
The Energy Task Group is considering including a criterion to incentivize
energy efficiency in the supply chain, however, they are trying to decide
if this is practical to pursue. Very draft language for this idea is:
"The product shall include integrated circuits and printed wiring boards
which have been manufactured by suppliers utilizing X, Y, and Z energy
efficiency practices during the manufacturing process."
The question is, are there any credible, globally accepted energy
efficiency standards/practices/guidance for manufacturing processes
that can be referenced? The TG felt that this type of criterion is only
practical if they can reference existing standards, practices, etc.
Note that the Task Group is really seeking to find out if there are widely
used, credible and globally accepted energy efficiency
standards/practices/guidance for manufacturing processes. If the
answer is no, that is fine too.
1
Research Response:
Definitions:
IC – Integrated circuit
LCA – Life cycle assessment
PCB – Printed circuit board
PWB – Printed wiring board
Summary
Are there any credible, globally accepted energy efficiency standards/practices/guidance for
manufacturing processes that can be referenced?
Yes, there are some approaches in this direction. The established initiatives take a wider view of production
as a whole rather than focusing on the manufacture of specific components. The most international of these
is ISO50001. There is also a US initiative providing a further accreditation building upon ISO50001 called SEP
(Superior Energy Performance), which offers silver, gold, and platinum designations based upon the level of
energy performance improvement achieved.
With regard to the specifics of PCB / PWB / IC manufacture, whilst there are standards for the energy
efficiency of the circuit boards themselves1, no specific energy efficient manufacture standards have been
identified.
What is the feasibility of including a criterion to incentivize energy efficiency in the server supply chain ?
Global standards exist. Therefore it seems that a requirement is feasible, but the ability of industry to comply
will depend upon the level of uptake of the ISO standard / SEP designation. Savings in the manufacturing
process could be equivalent to at least a 10% reduction in energy use by implementation of ISO 50001
certification, and larger (and more reliable savings) if SEP designations were specified.
Introduction
The following sections outline the standards available addressing energy efficient manufacture in general,
and then consider the implications of these standards to the specific area of server printed circuits. Wider
impacts of manufacture such as local pollutants are not addressed. The potential wording of requirements,
ambition and savings due to requirements is taken into consideration. Links for significant data sources and
important initiatives are listed at the end.
1
For example, IEEE 1801™-2013 "Standard for Design and Verification of Low Power Integrated Circuits”
http://standards.ieee.org/getieee/1801/download/1801-2013.pdf
2
Energy Efficient Manufacture (General)
ISO 50001 framework for an energy management system
The ISO 50001 energy management standard is an international framework for industrial plants, commercial
facilities, or entire organizations to manage energy, including procurement and use, supported by the US
DOE2. The standard provides technical and management strategies to increase energy efficiency, reduce
costs, and improve environmental performance. ISO 50001 was developed with input from fifty-nine
countries, and published in June 2011. Conformance to ISO 50001 demonstrates that the organization has
implemented a sustainable energy management system, completed a baseline of energy use, and committed
to continuously improve their energy performance (for details see Figure 1). The standard is compatible with
the widely used ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management).

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Assists organizations in optimizing their existing energy-consuming assets.
Offers guidance on benchmarking, measuring, documenting, and reporting energy intensity
improvements and their projected impact on reducing GHG emissions.
Creates transparency and facilitates communication on the management of energy resources.
Promotes energy management best practices and reinforces good energy management
behaviors.
Assists facilities in evaluating and prioritizing the implementation of new energy-efficient
technologies
Provides a framework for promoting energy efficiency throughout the supply chain.
Facilitates energy management improvements in the context of GHG emission reduction
projects.
energy management system complying with ISO14001:2004 or EN16001:2009
Road-tested assistance to help you achieve and verify energy saving.
Reduced operating costs and increased competitiveness.
National recognition for your energy management excellence and achievements
Figure 1 – Features of ISO 50001 3
Superior Energy Performance™ (SEP)
The Superior Energy Performance™ (SEP) program aims to provide a transparent, globally recognized system
that U.S. industrial facilities can use to improve their energy management and performance. It builds on the
ISO 50001 framework with targets for improvements in energy performance and an auditing process. SEP
4
offers silver, gold, and platinum designations based on the level of energy performance improvement
attained (valid for three years on condition of annual audits). The certification program is administrated by
the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technical Assistance division of the Advanced Manufacturing Office.
It was developed with technical input from the U.S. Council for Energy-Efficient Manufacturing (U.S. CEEM).
The DOE is currently in the process of refining the administrative processes for industrial plants to apply for
SEP certification.
2
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/energymanagement/
From the SEP website: http://superiorenergyperformance.energy.gov
4
SEP requires companies to commit to energy performance improvement targets over a defined reporting
period relative to a baseline of either: Silver (≥5% to <10%), Gold (≥10 to <15%), or Platinum (≥15%).
3
3
Other international initiatives
Whilst SEP is the initiative most relevant to the US, there are other initiatives internationally. A summary of
these is contained in the document at this address:
http://www.cleanenergyministerial.org/Portals/2/pdfs/GSEP_Intl_Approaches_MandV_July2013-web.pdf
4
Energy Efficient Server PCB Manufacture
Potential for improvement
The circuit board manufacturing process is complex, and has many mechanical, electrical and chemical stages.
Printed circuit boards are created by mounting electronic components on a non-conductive board, and
creating conductive connections between them. It has been shown through detailed yielded-cost modelling
in the PWB area, that:
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Product design impacts manufacturing energy consumption.
Different manufacturing technologies have widely varying energy requirements.
5
The lowest overall cost process sometimes results in the lowest energy cost, but not always .
Potential requirement wording
Based upon the standards available, possible requirement wording could be:
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“The product shall include integrated circuits and printed wiring boards which have been manufactured
by suppliers with ISO 50001 certification at the time of manufacture."
“The product shall include integrated circuits and printed wiring boards which have been manufactured
by suppliers complying with SEP silver accreditation at the time of manufacture."
Ambition of requirements and potential savings
ISO 50001: ISO50001 has only been established since June 2011, and registrations have increased rapidly in
the time since then:
Figure 2 - Number of ISO 50001 certified sites worldwide6
During a three year pilot phase, energy improvements at five companies due to ISO 50001 implementation
were in the range 6.5 – 17.1 %6Error! Bookmark not defined., close to the general rule most consultants apply: that a 10 %
5
“Energy, Electronics, And Ecology; Turning A Negative Into A Positive, Charles E. Bauer, Ph.D., and Herbert J.
Neuhaus, Ph.D. TechLead Corporation Portland, OR, USA , Originally published in the Pan Pacific
Symposium Proceedings, post 2010
6
“ISO 50001 around the world”, Authentic Energy Management Services (AEMS),
http://www.aems.ie/Pages/iso50001.aspx
5
reduction is possible in manufacturing companies. Since then, even higher energy savings have been
reported – up to 37% in two years7.
SEP: By July 2013, 28 facilities had completed SEP training, with an additional 25 facilities pursuing
certification and 14 facilities actually SEP certified. Average quarterly energy saving percentages were found
to increase by an additional 10.1% above the BAU of 3.6% during the second year after the first SEP training.
The implementation of ISO 50001 coupled with SEP energy performance targets was found to result in a cost
effective payback period of 1.7 years, on average8. However, it should be noted that any certification based
on improvement could fail to recognise early movers who may have taken all the possible steps to improve
and therefore have more limited options.
Circuit board specific savings potential: Findings specific to the printed circuit board sector found that use of
ERM such as that recommended in ISO 50001 and improved (best practice) PCB manufacturing processes,
could result in savings on average between 13 to 27%9. However, whilst the most energy efficient options can
be identified, it is important to take into account the balance with other environmental/cost considerations. A
drive simply toward manufacturing energy efficiency does not always result in the lowest impact
manufacturing approach being used. For example, in the diagram below a comparison of a different circuit
board solutions, found in one comparison that the lower energy use design had higher material impacts,
whilst an alternative comparison found both lower total cost , material use and energy use for the more
complex PWB design:
Figure 3 –Analysis of manufacturing cost for A) equivalent PWB and thick film hybrid substrates and B)
for two PWV substrate designs with equivalent wiring capability but different layer counts 5
7
“9 Months of Certified Energy Management: ISO 50001 Starts Out”, Written by Moritz Bühner // April 15,
2012 http://www.knowtheflow.com/2012/9-months-of-certified-energy-management-how-iso-50001strikes-out/
8
http://superiorenergyperformance.energy.gov/pdfs/sep_costbenefits_paper13.pdf
9
2011 paper – Analysis of Energy Efficiency in PCB Manufacturing Process, International Journal of Precision
Engineering and Manufacturing, Vol13, No.7, pp 1215 – 1220, July 2012Gyu-Bong Lee, Min-Jae Ko, Tae-Jun Ku.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12541-012-0161-9#page-1
6
List of significant data sources
Initiative
Established US
standard: US DOE
Superior Energy
Performance (SEP)
Established
international
standard: ISO
50001
European
standard in
development prEN 16247-3
Description
General Manufacturing
Additional accreditation grades based upon ISO 50001
for . industrial facility energy management and
performance, with US focus. Paul Scheihing
([email protected]), the lead of the programme
was consulted as part of this investigation. He was not
aware of any specific energy efficiency standards related
to PCB/PWB/IC manufacturing processes, but confirmed
that the SEP certification is applicable to any kind of
manufacturing facility. He is a useful contact point of a
linkage with SEP requirements is to be pursued.
International framework for industrial facilities manage
energy, including procurement and use.
The European Draft Standard prEN 16247-3, Energy
audits - Part 3: Processes, is under development by the
CEN-CENELAC joint working group (JWG) 1. It applies to
sites where the energy consumption is due to processes,
and includes details on energy auditing as a tool to
facilitate energy management. Also of relevant are Part 1:
General requirements and Part 2: Buildings.
Best Practice
initiative in
development CO2PE
(Cooperative Effort
on Process
Emissions in
Manufacturing)
The objectives of the CO2PE Initiative are to :
1.
Study the environmental footprint of
manufacturing processes with a priority focus on
energy consumption/CO2 emissions and a scope
limited to discrete part manufacturing,
2.
Develop a methodology for collection of data in a
format compatible with LCI databases in order to
fill gaps in current databases and achieve the
optimal improvement at the manufacturing
stage.
3.
Identify opportunities to improve process design
in close cooperation with machine tool
developers.
4.
Create best practice design rules and guidelines in
support of eco-design of machine tools.
Best Practice
initiative (and
potential
standards) in
development Intelligent
manufacturing
energy systems /
iProSPER
(International
Platform for
IMS is a global industry-led, international business
innovation and R&D program established to develop the
next generation of manufacturing and processing
technologies. Some of their work has touched upon the
standards area. Contact was made with an expert from
this group ([email protected]) who
provided details of the iProSPER (International Platform
for Sustainable Production and Energy Reduction)
initiative. Within this initiative the REEMAIN project is
currently addressing best practice in the Food, Foundry,
and Textile industries. The AENOR initiative will pick up
7
Link
http://superiorenergyperfor
mance.energy.gov/
http://www.iso.org/iso/iso5
0001
http://www.aenor.es/aenor/n
ormas/normas/fichanorma.a
sp?tipo=P&codigo=P004038
2 (Spanish)
http://www.cenelec.eu/dyn/
www/f?p=104:110:41996355
74956395::::FSP_ORG_ID,FS
P_LANG_ID,FSP_PROJECT:
10635,25,23294
[email protected]
http://www.co2pe.org
[email protected]
http://www.ims.org/
Sustainable
Production and
Energy Reduction /
REEMAIN
(www.reemain.eu).
the standards aspect of this work ([email protected]).
Industry initiative:
U.S. Council for
Energy-Efficient
Manufacturing
(USCEEM)
Best practice
initiative: Global
Superior Energy
Performance
Partnership (GSEP)
- Energy
Management
Working Group
Group (EMWG)
The U.S. Council for Energy-Efficient Manufacturing (U.S.
CEEM) is a voluntary industry-led partnership working to
improve industrial energy efficiency and competitiveness.
http://usceem.org/,
The EMWG is an international group aiming to accelerate
broad use of energy management systems (EnMS) in
industry. Member countries share knowledge and identify
and evaluate EnMS activities, opportunities, strategies,
and best practices. They provide assistance on policies
and programmes, highlight best practice and connect
policies to effective supporting programs. They have an
Energy Performance Database, an EnMS Practitioner’s
Toolbox and an ISO50001 Auditor Scheme.
http://www.cleanenergymini
sterial.org/OurWork/Initiatives/Buildingsand-Industry/EnergyManagement
Best practice /
research initiative
(stalled):
Surfenergy
PCB / PWB / IC specific
An Intelligent Energy Europe funded initiative to
strengthen “competitiveness in the main target groups of
surface engineering and printed circuit board industries by
achieving the wide introduction of energy efficiency
measures.”
The project included a creation of a free “Energy Efficiency
Advisor” web-based application to assist companies in
improving the efficiency of their energy using processes.
Features include:
 Setting Up an Energy Management System
 Energy Auditing Requirements
 Measure Lists and Key Performance Indicators
 Benchmarking Tool –
 Energy Efficiency Tool
 Investment Guide
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www.surfenergy.eu
The website has become
dormant since 2010 (prior to
ISO50001 being established)
as it is no longer supported
by the European
Commission. However, I
managed to set up a login
for the Green Electronic
Council to access the
information on the website:
Login:
GreenElectronicsCouncil
Password: GEC123