Sustainability is becoming a great issue in today's economy.  With the Earth's resources being used up before the Earth can replace them we are in need to find new ways to manufacture our technological needs in a clean and reusable manner.  Not only is using up the finite resources we have available an issue so is polluting the air and the soil, thus hindering the replacement of natural resources.  Many processes used to create our phones and computers use toxic chemicals at some level of the manufacturing.  These processes are also costly, from making the components needed to packaging, the cost is substantial.  Energy input in require to run these processes, and energy today is a big issue with the decline in oil and other resources.  From the hands of the developers to the hands of the consumers, the impacts are insurmountable. 

Focusing on experiment 7 from EE306, bipolar junction transistor.  

• Ecology   Silicon production is one of the cleanest and most delicate processes in the industry today.  The labs that build these wafers are all done in clean rooms, even the employees handling the wafers are completely covered from head to foot.  These processes use chemicals that are toxic to anyone that comes in contact with them.  When BJTs are being used for lab and a student burns one out, they are most likely going to trash the BJT immediately, now you are exposing chemicals into the environment.  Silicon makes up approximately 27.7% of the earths crust.  This number of course is not infinite and faces being used up before it can be replaced. 
•           In fact, many of the materials used for this lab are things that were obtained from resource and manufactured in some process.  Wires, components, breadboards and all the equipment on the bench have been through some kinda of process to build them.  These processes all use resources, either obtained or maybe even recycled.  Energy is put into building all the necessary equipment as well as energy used by the consumer to use the equipment.

• Energy   The energy consumed in the bipolar junction transistor lab are fairly small, especially looking into the components and the circuit used for the lab.  The BJT used for the lab, 2N2222, doesn't dissipate a lot of power, only 625mW [2].  When you look one layer outside the individual circuits, you now have the energy needed to run the 33120A function generator, E3640A power supply, and the various multimeters that were used throughout the lab to measure the voltages (not to mention the computer).  When you put all these elements together, the energy used begins to add up.  The function generator uses 28W (on average) [4], 10W for the digital multimeters [3], and 30W max for the power supply [5]. 
•         The energy needed to run this experiment may not seem important, but when you have 8 benches per lab all working on the same experiment, using the same equipment, the numbers really start adding up.  So where does each watt of power come from?  Here in California we produce energy from nuclear power plants (such as the plant in Diablo Canyon), wind power, solar power, and our crude oil usage as well.  Nuclear power plants are safe and air pollutant free means of producing power, the only side affect is the radioactive waste that it produces.  Usually they have designated dumps sites for the waste, this isn't exactly an answer to the problem.  Introducing harmful chemicals to the environment is not a solution.  Cleaner methods of energy production would be the increasing use of wind power and solar power.  These ways of obtaining power come naturally and are clean, no pollutants of any kind.

• Economy   Lab kits, lab manuals, tuition costs, energy consumption from the lab equipment, the cost of up-take of the room and its equipment, paper and ink used for lab reports.  All these things add up and have a stake in the economy of the school and the state.  Costs can simply be cut just by taking time to realize what belongs and what doesn't.  First is the cost of the lab kits, the bookstore obviously overprices these kits.  Many of the components can be picked up for less than a dollar.  Yet the school bookstore increases costs to make a huge capital on students.  Students that already have to pay for tuition which is at an all time high.  Lab manuals could be done away with, simple digital copies would be a much prefered solution for most students (again, school would lose money).  Paper and ink for the lab reports could all together be diminished and not cause any issues with the school making income just by allowing students to submit digital copies.  The reports are already done on computers, why not just allow students to submit the report digitally. 
•      Waste factors into economy, with fabrication comes waste.  The economy spends billions of dollars on waste clean-up and disposal [6].  The labs create a lot of waste, students aren't required to hold on to lab kits or lab manuals, many would just rather toss them in the trash at the end of the quarter.  Most of the essentials for the labs will end up in a landfill one day:  lab reports, lab kits, and lab manuals.  All of which could simply be avoided by allowing students to have digital copies, or even have them donate the lab manuals and lab kits back to the EE department for reuse.  Why create more waste?
•      Computers are essential in every persons life now-a-days.  Computers are also one of the highest energy users today [7].  The energy input of personal computers is substantial, requiring different power throughout use, depending on the amount of work the computer is doing.  Although, even when the computer is not being used many times they are left turned on.  The computer is still requiring power even when not being used and a waste of energy.  The computers used for labs are guilty of this, being left on all day, although they are not being used constantly. 
•      Looking outside the lab room, we also have costs.  The personal computers are manufactured at many levels, from the production of semi-conductors to the assembly of the computer and finally out the door to be shipped to a consumer.  The costs for a company to create computers isnt cheap.  Finding more ways to be productive and environmentally friendly is something all companies should strive for.  The Ford Company's Rouge plant is a great example of companies finding ways to become more sustainable.  With a roof covered in vegetation, they reduce the cost of cooling, and the plants use the carbon dioxide produced from the plant [8].  More companies need to make these strides, everyone would benefit from these industry changing ideas.

• Equity    The benefactors of experiment 7, is of course the students.  The knowledge gained from this lab helps students better understand the functionality of BJTs.  In the long run, engineers are gonna be the minds of the future.  Students understanding and learning from this lab will impact people every where.  The great minds of the future industry workers could very well change the way everyone lives their lives. 

References:

[1] Connections,  The Environmental Impact of the Manufacturing of Semiconductors. Jason Holden, Christopher Kelty.    http://cnx.org/content/m14503/latest/  Jun 2, 2009

[2] Fairchild Semiconductor, Datasheet: PN2222A/MMBT2222A/PZT2222A NPN General Purpose Amplifier. Available: http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/PN/PN2222A.pdf

[3] Agilent, Data Sheet: 34401A Digital Multimeter, 6½ Digit.  Available: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5968-0162EN.pdf. [Accessed Nov 13, 2010].

[4] Agilent, Data Sheet: 33120A Function/Arbitrary Waveform Generator, 15 MHz.  Available: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5968-0125EN.pdf. [Accessed Nov 13, 2010].

[5] Agilent, Data Sheet: E3640A 30W Power Supply, 8V, 3A or 20V, 1.5A. Available: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5968-7355EN.pdf. [Accessed Nov 13, 2010].

[6] Economics of Waste.  Author: NA http://www.zerowasteamerica.org/EconomicsOfWaste.htm [Accessed Nov 14, 2010]

[7] Review of Computer Energy Consumptions and Potential Savings.  Megan Bray.  http://www.dssw.co.uk/research/computer_energy_consumption.html  December 2006.  [Accessed Nov 14, 2010]

[8] “Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Plant,” greenroofs.com. [Online]. Available: http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=12. [Accessed Nov 14, 2009].