Solar Power Breakthrough in IBM Scrap

Solar power has struggled to realize its potential of deriving unlimited energy supplied by the sun in part because of the cost of making photovoltaic panels.

Now, IBM Corp. has a solution, according to various press accounts: Cheap silicon scrap left over from the semiconductor-making process. Previously, the intricate etchings that guide the circuitry prevented the scrap from being recycled, since chip makers didn't want their proprietary information stolen. But IBM deployed an existing tool to erase critical information, rendering the silicon ready for reuse.

The view inside a chip manufacturing plant is filled with such tools -- each employing a different set of chemical abrasives and etches to scrub, polish and mark a microchip for later use. Through certain breakthroughs in energy efficiency and computing power, IBM chips have been used recently in, among other applications, next-generation video game systems like the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360.

And the computing giant isn't sitting on its recycling breakthrough. IBM plans to share the expertise its engineers pioneered with others in the industry. That's very big of Big Blue.

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