IBM has been doing some interesting things as of late. Recently they started taking flawed computer chips and turning them into solar panels (isn’t that nice).

Through this new reclamation process IBM is now able to more efficiently remove the intellectual property from the wafer surface, making these wafers available either for reuse in internal manufacturing calibration as “monitor wafers” or for sale to the solar cell industry, which must meet a growing demand for the same silicon material to produce photovoltaic cells for solar panels. IBM intends to provide details of the new process to the broader semiconductor manufacturing industry. It is currently in use the Burlington, VT facility and in the process of being implemented at IBM’s East Fishkill, NY, semiconductor fabrication plant.

“One of the challenges facing the solar industry is a severe shortage of silicon, which threatens to stall its rapid growth,” said Charles Bai, chief financial officer of ReneSola, one of China’s fastest growing solar energy companies. “This is why we have turned to reclaimed silicon materials sourced primarily from the semiconductor industry to supply the raw material our company needs to manufacture solar panels.”

IBM and others in the industry use silicon wafers both as the starting material for manufacturing microelectronic products — from cell phones to computers to consumer electronics — and to monitor and control the myriad of steps in the manufacturing process. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, worldwide 250,000 wafers are started per day across the industry. IBM estimates that up to 3.3% of these started wafers are scrapped. In the course of the year, this amounts to approximately three million discarded wafers.

3 million wafers:

* Stretch for 375 miles if placed end-to-end
* Cover 22.5 acres of area
* Weigh 187.5 tons
* Generate 13.5 megawatts of solar energy
* Produce 57 million kilowatt hours in solar panels (12-hour day x 365 days)
* Power 6,000 houses (9,500 kWh per year per house)

Pretty interesting to think of trash not in terms of weight, or cost, but in terms of how much clean renewable energy it could make.

Now they have five innovations they claim will transform how people around the world will work and live in the next five years.

From helping to create a more green environment to improving cell phones, the IBM “Next 5 in 5” list is based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s labs around the world. The five areas in which IBM expects to see technological improvements include: energy, cell phone functionality, traffic congestion, food intake and medical tools for doctors.

Interesting stuff. Click here (pdf) for more info about the 5 in 5 plan.