2007 Winner
Applied Materials, Inc.

Category: Susanne Wilson Award for Pollution Prevention/Resource Conversation - Special Project

Applied Materials is a Fortune 500 company whose core market has been semiconductor manufacturing equipment.They have recently expanded their operations to the design and manufacture of equipment for solar cell production.

Applied Materials has committed to supplying sustainable solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. As part of this commitment, it has developed a program to reduce the energy used by its products in their customers' facilities. One hundred percent of Applied Materials products currently under development have energy reduction goals which must be validated prior to release. There are currently over 20 such products in process. The savings are significant: one recent product was validated at a 37% energy efficiency improvement over the predecessor product.

Applied Materials has taken a leadership role in working with industry associations to develop standards for measuring and controlling energy use. As a result, the industry as a whole has moved from focusing almost exclusively on technical performance to taking systematic efforts to reduce the energy used by its products. In order to achieve its ambitious reduction goals, Applied Materials has also worked with its suppliers to improve their energy efficiency.

stan_hughes@amat.com

www.appliedmaterials.com