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Sustainability Report 2008

What Semiconductors can do for Life and the Earth

Electricity consumption is increasing all over the world as a direct consequence of rapid growth in the field of electronics.

Japan consumes 5% of the world's electricity, which amounts to 920 million kWh every year. This results in 417 million tons of CO2 being emitted on an annual basis.

In our role as a manufacturer of semiconductors, we at SANYO Semiconductor develop and manufacture our products using extremely low-power consumption technology, thereby contributing to reductions in electricity consumption.

  • Global electricity consumption: 17,533,200,000,000kWh per annum (*1)
  • Japan's electricity consumption: 920,000,000,000kWh per annum (*2)
  • Amount of CO2 emitted for each kWh of electricity used in Japan: 0.453kg -CO2 (*2)
  • Emissions amounting to 417 million tons of CO2 greenhouse gas is the equivalent of enough dry-ice to fill Tokyo Dome approximately 217 times.

*1 Source: National Statistics 2008 issued by the Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
*2 Results for Fiscal 2007 Based on the Fiscal 2008 Environmental Action Plan issued by The Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan

SANYO GokLow® (Ultra-Low) Series IC, which achieved extremely low-power consumption, for use in silicon audio equipment

Compressed Audio (MP3, etc.) CODEC
(Conventional Model)

  • High power consumption (50mW or more)
  • Can be implemented with DSP software
  • Limits how low the operational frequency can be set (40MHz or higher)
  • Life-span of the battery is extremely short
    (Maximum of approximately 30 hours for one AA battery)

SANYO Hard Wired CODEC
(GokLow®)

  • Low power consumption (approximately 10mW)
  • CODEC made possible with an H/W circuit
  • Decoding possible from 4MHz to 16MHz
  • Life-span of the battery maximized
    (150 hours for one AA battery, to be expanded to 200 hours)


ICs for Use with Silicon Audio Equipment
LC823402 GokLow®
Providing extremely low-power consumption
and high sound quality

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