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EBOM-2009 IEQc3.1:Green Cleaning—High-Performance Cleaning Program

Green Cleaning in a Semiconductor Fab???

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David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable Design
M+W Group
LEEDuser Basic Member
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I posed this question for a NC-2009 project a week ago and received no replies, so thought I'd re-post it here: I'm working on a semiconductor fab that is part of a LEED campus project. The campus has a well-established, campus-wide green cleaning program in place. Other LEED office projects on this campus have earned an ID credit for green cleaning. The client is committed to this. Cleaning in the fab is limited to packaged lint-free wipes pre-soaked in ultra pure water (UPW), some with very dilute iso-propyl alcohol (IPA). No other chemicals are used. Management is considering eliminating these dilute IPA wipes and using just UPW wipes. Questions: (1) what is the consensus on whether dilute IPA wipes align/don't align with green cleaning protocol? (2) Are there any potential barriers that this fab could expect in pursuing the ID credit for green cleaning? Thanks for any input you can provide. David

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Fri, 07/31/2015 - 20:24

Hi David, Your situation presents a unique challenge, as we do not see many semiconductor fab's pursue LEED. However, hopefully the following will provide some guidance to your inquiry! 1) There is no published guidance on whether dilute IPA wipes are compliant with the green cleaning protocols in LEED. The UPW wipes would be considered compliant because they only use water, however, I cannot confirm if the wipes with diluted IPA will also be compliant. If your project would like a definitive answer, you have the option to submit a CIR and then GBCI will give your project team an official ruling for which products are compliant. Another strategy would be to submit the wipes with IPA as a approved product in the Green Cleaning Policy, and the GBCI reviewers will determine if it is or is not compliant in the preliminary review. If it is not, your team will then have the opportunity to look into replacement products before submitting the final review. 2) There are no other barriers that come to mind for pursuing this ID credit. As long as all of the required procedures are outlined in the policy, this credit should be achievable! Hope this helps.
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David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable Design
M+W Group
LEEDuser Basic Member
16 thumbs up

Fri, 07/31/2015 - 20:49

Thanks for your response Kimberly. Just yesterday I came to the conclusion that the IPA wipes are not likely compliant, as follows: • IPA is classified as a VOC by the EPA and WHO (http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc2.html) • Green Seal Standard 37 limits VOCs, as used, to 1% concentration (Section 3.9 for General Cleaners.) These wipes come pre-soaked at a 6% concentration. We are still investigating whether these IPA wipes can be eliminated. We believe so but we're checking in with the maintenance & custodial staff. Thanks again for your input, much appreciated. David

Mon, 08/03/2015 - 21:42

Hi David, One last note - Remember that only 30% of cleaning products and materials need to fit one of the sustainability criteria outlined in IEQc3.3: Green Cleaning - Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials. Therefore the IPA wipes do not need to be completely eliminated, they just cannot make up more than 70% of the purchases for sustainable cleaning products and materials.
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David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable Design
M+W Group
LEEDuser Basic Member
16 thumbs up

Mon, 08/03/2015 - 21:58

Ah, yes, I forgot that. I'll have to inquire about a cost breakdown. Unfortunately they pretty much just use prepackaged wipes in the fab for all cleaning but the proportion of IPA and non-IPA will have to be calculated. Thanks so much for the reminder, Kimberly! David
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David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable Design
M+W Group
LEEDuser Basic Member
16 thumbs up

Thu, 10/29/2015 - 19:52

So, the client has decided to eliminate all IPA in their fab cleaning. It turns out the IPA doesn't provide any benefit to fab cleaning....However, another problem is revealed. I can't find evidence that the pre-packaged wipes have GreenSeal or other environmental certification. Given that these wipes are 100% polyester and the ONLY cleaner used is ultra pure water, do you believe this complies?

Tue, 11/03/2015 - 20:50

Hi David, There is no clear guidance on how to classify wipes, therefore it is unclear what sustainability criteria they would need to comply with. My thought is that they can be excluded from the calculation all together because they do not contain any cleaning chemicals. However, I think they are environmentally preferred (because it's simply water) and could be included if you could describe how the use of the UPW wipes is environmentally preferable to conventional practices (IPA wipes). I hope that helps!
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David Gibney
Technical Director for Sustainable Design
M+W Group
LEEDuser Basic Member
16 thumbs up

Tue, 11/03/2015 - 22:35

Thanks Kimberly. I including them in our calculation because the credit language states "including microfiber tools and wipes." Plus, this IS how they clean the fabs. It would be a shame if the project can't earn this because this client really does "walk the walk" when it comes to running a green campus. Thanks again for your input. It does help! David

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