The Greenest Locations in the World
July 1, 2023
How important is sustainability, really, to today’s global manufacturers? I put the question to Scott Gatzemeier, the corporate vice president of front end US expansion at Micron who’s leading the construction of new semiconductor manufacturing projects in New York and Idaho worth tens of billions of dollars.
“Sustainability is paramount to a future that enriches life for all,” he says. “If you look at our selection of New York for the future home of our planned megafab, there is availability and access to clean, reliable power and water to achieve our long-term environmental goals. We aim to use green infrastructure and sustainable building attributes for the construction of the new fab to attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold status. And we aim to achieve 100% water reuse, recycling and restoration as well as use 100% renewable electricity at the new fab.”
As it happens, New York is No. 8 in this year’s Site Selection Sustainability Ranking, based on criteria that include several of the factors Gatzemeier mentions (see charts). North Carolina — which happens to be home since 1995 to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) located at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University — is No. 1, followed by Colorado and Virginia.