Silicon is Greener: Why Innovation in Circuits is Needed for Sustainability

Sustainable development is one of the preeminent challenges facing humanity. The immediate and near-term identified challenge is carbon emissions, driven primarily from the energy sector. The integrated circuit industry has created an information and communications revolution which has transformed every sector of the economy from education to agriculture. Can the innovation and power of the industry transform sustainability? In this paper, we will show that by enabling electrification of the power sector (efficiency) and virtualization of physical processes (reducing energy demand), the integrated circuit industry will be a key enabler for solutions to sustainability issues.