Championing energy efficiencies

In these carbon-conscious times ‘green’ issues are high up the corporate agenda. But computer-maker Dell is going that one step further to slash its carbon footprint and make huge cost savings, says Director of Sustainable Business Tod Arbogast.

“We have committed to reduce 20 million pounds of packaging, which will save us US$8 million (€5.8 million)”

We are committed to being the 'greenest' technology company on the planet. To achieve this we have said that we need to look at our environmental impact. Although this means a holistic approach, we have found that there are four distinct categories of impact:

• How we design our products
• Our own operational impact, as well as our extended supply chain
• How customers acquire and subsequently use our products
• The end-of-life deposition of our products and their environmental impact

We are committed to leading the industry by designing our products for energy efficiency so we have made very specific targeted commitments. We have avoided US$3 million (€2.2 billion) in energy costs since 2005 based on a very targeted focus in our design phase of our OptiPlex products. We have committed to lead our industry in terms of efficient use of energy, purchasing clean and renewable energy, along with offsetting remaining impacts and achieving carbon neutrality. When you look at the carbon we are emitting relative to the revenue we generate, we produce around seven grams of carbon per dollar of revenue.

We are committed to the fact that 100 percent of our energy needs for operating our facilities is from clean and renewable sources, which will eliminate our carbon impact. At the moment, around 20 percent of our energy comes from clean and renewable sources - four times the amount of our nearest competitor. Until we can procure 100 percent of our energy from renewable sources we are going to have a remaining impact, and we believe leadership dictates that you offset that remaining impact responsibly and achieve carbon neutrality.  

Thirdly, is packaging. At Dell we have committed to reduce 20 million pounds of packaging, which will save us US$8 million (€5.8 million). We have also committed to enabling the recycled content use within our packaging, as well as curb side recyclability of our packaging. Finally, when it comes to end-of-life disposal Dell is the only computer company in the world that provides free and convenient recycling globally, irrespective of product purchase.

Green is clean

In terms of energy efficiencies, we have taken a multi-approach strategy. One of which is a partnership with industry in organisations such as the Climate Savers Computing Initiative where we have taken a very active role. We were also the first in our industry to achieve a 80 Plus Gold-certification for server power supply, while we were able to release a product that was conforming to the 2009 climate savers' requirements a full year ahead of schedule.

A second area of our green leadership is 'Dell Energy Smart' which has a holistic approach to dealing with energy efficiency - from the design in terms of how we focus on energy efficiency at a component level to how we integrate software to optimise energy efficiencies. This produces the most energy efficient products in our industry. We also provide calculators that allows our customers to visually see and identify the carbon savings associated with a transition, as well as their potential savings associated with energy decreases. The final area is about innovation. How do we drive innovation in our products, all the way from the desktop through to the data centre? It's about innovation and delivering demonstrable value to our customers in terms of energy savings. A good example of this is the $US$3 billion (€2.2 billion) we have helped customers avoid in terms of costs of powering our OptiPlex products since 2005.

Computing power

Our PC-installed base managed by our enterprise is in excess of 50,000 clients distributed throughout our IT enterprise. We launched a programme where we were able to manage the power state of those assets, so if a client is not being utilised over a pre-defined period of time we will automatically power it down. In the event that we need to re-awaken that asset, we can do that remotely, too. This allows us, in effect, to manage power in the most optimal way for that asset. That has resulted in a Dell avoiding more than 20,000 tonnes of CO2 annually and roughly US$3 million (€2.2 million) of cost savings. Turning these computers off when they are not being used is saving us about US$1.8 million (€1.3 million) a year, as well as all the carbon reductions.

However, when you look at our commitment to procure 100 percent of our energy needs from clean and renewable sources, we clearly have a long way to go. We lead our industry at the moment but we face a daunting challenge ahead of us. In the United States roughly three percent of the total energy output for the country comes for clean and renewable sources. Dell is operating its US facilities on more than 35 percent or 10 times what is available. Needless to say, we continue to find creative and innovative ways to partner with our public utilities but we will continue to be challenged in years to come.

The key for us is that we are focusing our aspirations to be the greenest technology company on the planet, holistically across an entire lifecycle. Embedded in that lifecycle we are prioritising and driving demonstrable actions inside each of the elements. It is about helping to serve our customers - both our commercial and consumer side - because green is important to them. In some cases, it is for their own corporate responsibilities or they may have a strong tie with environmental practices within their home, or it is simply for the cost savings. We are hearing that customers do have a certain amount of trust for companies who are putting environmental considerations at the fore.

Tod Arbogast is responsible for managing Dell's sustainability team and programmes. He manages the balance of Dell's growth strategy with goals to minimise the company's impact on natural and human resources. Elements of his role include managing company relationships with stakeholders that help Dell develop sustainable growth strategies, guiding Del's product recovery and recycling programmes, as well as climate change impacts.