Sustainability Analysis: Experiment 5

Breakdown Diodes

By: Ricardo Garay

EE 306
Fall 2015

Introduction:
In the 21st century, sustainability is a growing concern in the world. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the
leading greenhouse has that causes global warming and climate changes. With the upper safety limit
of CO2 (350ppm) surpassed since 1988 and rapidly approaching a concentration of 400ppm, it is
important to help stop/decrease the concentration in CO2 concentration to make the environment a
safer place to live [1]. This leads to define sustainability. Sustainability is when natural systems and
social systems thrive off each other indefinitely [2].
In a laboratory, EE 346, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a plurality of the experiments use semiconductor devices such as transistors and diodes. These devices come at a cost, not only in monetary
value but at a price in nature as well.
This experiment dealt with Zener diodes and how they can be used as voltage regulators, being able
to hold a near constant voltage with varying current over time. This application is useful because it
applies to nearly every electronic component out there in the real world; it allows circuits to receive a
stable and known voltage that hardly changes with modifications to the circuit. Even with this useful
application, Zener diodes are not efficient as voltage regulators because they have to be created to
handle all the circuits power even when it is not being demanded [3].
The Four Es in Sustainability
Ecology/environment
The leading production of silicon is created through a process which reacts silica, SiO2 with carbon
to produce silicon and Carbon Monoxide as the products [9]. Carbon Monoxide is gas toxic to
humans and animals when encountered. This byproducts is created by burning coal, wood, charcoal,
propane, and other forms of fuel. On average, about 170 people die of Carbon Monoxide poisoning
[10]. This process of creating silicon is not the cleanest, it harms the environment and kills the living.
Unless the process is made cleaner, it will continue to kill and harm the environment.

Energy
Zener diodes are composed of semi-conductors, primarily silicon. Silicon production in todays
world is expensive and requires large amounts of energy. In photovoltaic cell production, it takes
energy in the range of 2000-4500MJ of energy usage to create one square meter of silicon and wafer
processing [4]. Today, the world uses about 15 TW of energy each year [5]. In order to bring the
world energy consumption down, and in thus bring the CO2 concentration down, some
manufacturing processes need to make their practices cleaner and consume less energy.
Zener diodes may be inexpensive and are simple to use, however; they are not the most efficient. The
power loss of using a Zener diode over long periods of time will, in the diodes life-time, end up
being more costly than the diode itself, and therefore not a sustainable practice. Zener diodes are
often used in AC-DC converters; like in most cellphones, radios, gaming consoles, and other
accessories. These converters are what is used to replenish batteries in the devices. When people
leave these devices plugged in, the devices draw vampire energy, which means that even when the

device is plugged in and not being used, it draws energy. The amount of energy being wasted is
relative to what is being measured. A fully charged cell phone consumes about 2.24 watts while
being plugged in, a charged laptop plugged in wastes about 66% (29.48 watts out of 44.28 watts) of
the power it draws [6].
Economy
This experiment requires a lab kit of about $20 (when bought from the student IEEE). This is a waste
of both money and material. This amount can be considered negligible considering the lab equipment
that was used in the Cal Poly lab. Equipment like a multi-meter, a function generator, an
oscilloscope, sweep&go software, and a desktop computer; the lab as a whole is expensive, not
including the power used in running each of the devices. Most of the devices provided by Cal Poly
are over $1000 and it is paid for by the state of California, tax payers, donations, and student tuition.
These expenses are necessary for the learning process of future innovators. It is important for
students now to learn how to this devices work and their efficiency in order to create new devices
that have a higher efficiency and are sustainable by nature.
The cost of solar energy has decreased in the last five decades, it has gone from $100/W in the 1970s
to ranging from $3-$1/W [7]. Much like this lab, it can help educate the students at Cal Poly into
creating new methods of making products more efficient and less expensive; both in money and in
nature.
Equity
In an article by Brian Walsh, he writes how Americans do not properly dispose of their unwanted
electronics and in consequence, they end up in recycling hubs like Guiyu, China. This place in china
has the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world, along with elevated miscarriages [8].
Clearly, the creation of new devices is not the only problem the world is having in terms of
sustainability. The fact that some recycling plants illegally transport e-waste to other countries means
that the government is looking the other way when it comes to saving money. There needs to be a
way to enforce illegal practices; because if this keeps up, one day the next electronic you improperly
dispose of could give a worker cancer.
Future Improvements
One way the sustainability of this lab can be increased is by reducing the cost of lab supplies. It
would save the school money, which in turn can be used for other things. The school can purchase
ten or so kits and have them be reused year after year. Like it was mentioned earlier, some people do
not properly dispose of their electronics, and if the students have to purchase their own kits and have
this be every year; at some point the student with the kit may accidentally drop a resistor or transistor
in the trash and not notice. Therefore, being an indirect cause in the pollution of the world. Cal Poly
and the EE department can help be a bit more sustainable by reusing the kits year by year until they
no longer work.
Another way of improving the sustainability role with this lab is purchasing new equipment, like
multi-meters and other devices. It is almost certain the new devices consume less power than the
ones currently being used, upgrading can also help with the sustainability.

References:
1) http://co2now.org/
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

2) S. R. Euston and W. E. Gibson,

The Ethic of Sustainability, Earth Ethics 6, 1995 p. 5-7.
Available:http://www.iisd.org/sd/principle.asp?pid=31&display=1.
[Accessed November 21, 2015].
3) Tony R. Kuphaldt,
"Zener Diodes". Available:
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_3/11.html
[Accessed November 21, 2015].
4) Erik A. Alsema1, Mariska J. de Wild-Scholten,
"Environmental Impacts of Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Module Production".
Available: http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2006/rx06041.pdf
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

5) Maria Trimarchi
How much power does the world consume?
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/world-power-consumption.htm
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

6) Vampire Energy: Essential Answer

Joshua Chan
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=29053april 2011/
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

7)Jose Cordeiro
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/30/book-review-clean-disruption-of-energy-and-transportationhowsilicon-valley-will-make-oil-nuclear-natural-gas-coal-electric-utilities-and-conventional-cars-obsolete-by2030/
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

8) Brian Walsh,
"E-Waste Not".
Available: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1870485,00.html
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

9) "The Basics of Silicon Chemistry".

http://www.dowcorning.com/content/sitech/sitechbasics/siloxane_polymerization.asp
[Accessed November 21, 2015].

10) http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Carbon-Monoxide-InformationCenter/Carbon-Monoxide-Questions-and-Answers-/
[Accessed November 21, 2015].