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IBM Recycles Waste CPU Wafers Into Solar Panels

Posted by kdawson on from the trash-to-power-revisited dept.

Luyseyal writes "IBM has developed a process for scrubbing waste silicon wafers clean, allowing the otherwise highly secret waste to be sold. The silicon quality usually necessary for solar production is very high and the cost of solar panels reflects it. Recycling this waste should help bring down the cost in the long run and add a new profit vector for chip manufacturers. The article notes that IBM has such a high profile in the chip business that this recycling tech should spread rapidly."

9 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. I'll wait for AMD to do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Their scrap wafers turned into solar power should generate more power at a fraction of the cost.

    1. Re:I'll wait for AMD to do this by jx100 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but then you can't go to Europa.

    2. Re:I'll wait for AMD to do this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It'll take Sun to do it right.

  2. Dear IBM, by tjstork · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you just give me a few hundred thousand dollars, I'll buy a little boat and just dump all your trash in the ocean.

    signed,

    Nigeria

    --
    This is my sig.
  3. Re:And we should care because? by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 1, Funny

    ... Because now you can have a Beowulf cluster of solar panels?

    --
    OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
  4. ha ha bad pun by rleamon · · Score: 3, Funny

    "the cost of solar panels reflects it" Slow day at the news desk.

  5. Oh man! by Derek+Loev · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Are those solar panels real??!! They're huge!"
    "No way man, that's got to be silicon. There's no way it's natural."

  6. Re:How Much? by sholden · · Score: 5, Funny

    First you have to melt sand. Not cheese on a pizza, but sand

    God damn it! No wonder my attempts have never worked. You have no idea how many different types of cheese I have tried...

  7. Re:How Much? by rgravina · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sort of like bootstrapping solar power!