Dell Sets Goal Of Becoming Greenest Technology Company

Dell today launched a long-term, global effort to partner with its customers to become the greenest technology company on Earth for the long-term. The new Zero Carbon Initiative will continue to maximize the energy efficiency of Dell products and over time offset their carbon impact. The initiative includes the efforts of Dell, its employees and its suppliers and will reflect the direct feedback of its customers.

The company also committed to reduce the carbon intensity of its global operations by 15 percent by 2012 and extended its " Plant a Tree for Me" program to Europe, allowing computer users to offset the emissions associated with the electricity their computers use.

" We often characterize a certain age group as typifying a generation, like the ‘Me Generation,’ ‘Gen X’ or ‘Gen Y,’ but it’s clear today that we’re living in the ‘Re-Generation,’ which includes people of all ages throughout the world who want to make a difference in improving the Earth we all share," said Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell in comments marking World Environment Day. " Our goal is simple and clear. We’ll take the lead in setting an environmental standard for our industry that will reflect our partnership with, and direct feedback from, our customers, suppliers and stakeholders, and we intend to maintain that leadership."

In his remarks Mr. Dell also announced that Dell is asking customers for their ideas in building the " greenest PC on the planet." Dell’s call for ideas and more information is on its IdeaStorm site (www.ideastorm.com) today.

The zero-carbon initiative will include IT lifecycle assessments, management of Dell’s direct and indirect climate impacts, reduction of the company’s carbon intensity and partnership with customers.

“Our effort to drive IT simplification from desktop to data center will identify efficiencies that help reduce the carbon impact of our products,” Mr. Dell added. “Dell will do its part to protect the Earth’s climate, from providing energy-efficient IT products, to using environmentally responsible practices we hope others will embrace.”

The efforts are a part of Dell’s drive to reduce complexity for customers and partner with them to protect the environment. Dell will undertake a lifecycle assessment of the carbon impact of an IT product through its supply chain and with input from environmental stakeholders.


Customer Use

Dell’s “Plant a Tree for Me” program is now available in Europe. For £1 per notebook or £3 per desktop (€1.50 and €4.50 respectively), customers can offset the emissions associated with the electricity that their computers use. One hundred percent of those funds will be donated to plant trees in professionally managed reforestation projects. The trees absorb the carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere when electricity is generated to power a computer over its average three-year life.

Dell will continue to work with The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org to manage the European program. Carbonfund.org is supporting a tree planting project in Hungary developed by KlimaFa Kft., a subsidiary of Planktos Corp. Planktos is an ecosystem restoration company working to improve the health of natural habitats on land and in the open ocean. Donations from European customers will be directed to European planting operations. Dell launched the U.S. version of the Plant a Tree program in January. The European program is available at www.carbonfund.org/dell

Mr. Dell also committed today to personally match donations to the program received during the next three months.



Design for Environment

Dell has requested that its primary suppliers begin reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data. Suppliers risk having their overall scores reduced during Dell quarterly business reviews for not identifying and publicly reporting GHG emissions. A supplier’s volume of Dell business can be affected by the scores earned on reviews. Dell will work with suppliers on emissions reduction strategies once data is collected.

Dell takes a precautionary approach in designing products with the environment in mind.

Dell’s strategy is to deliver products that provide the maximum performance at the least amount of power required. Dell has introduced products with Energy Smart configurations across server, desktop and notebook product lines and introduced products meeting the latest Energy Star 4.0 requirements. Dell is also advising customers on data center design to help reduce power requirements.



Dell Operations

Dell recently completed a power-management pilot on more than 50,000 computers on the company’s internal network. The pilot resulted in the savings of about 13 million kilowatt hours of electricity, equivalent to avoidance of 8,500 tons of CO2 and savings of $1.8 million annually. Dell plans to identify ways to help its corporate customers achieve similar energy savings.

Dell also proposed today that the effectiveness of corporate climate policies be contrasted by a carbon-intensity measurement comparing the CO2 equivalent of total reported GHG emissions to annual revenue. By this carbon-intensity measurement, Dell’s GHG impact is among the lowest of those companies listed on the Fortune 50.1 The company also pledged to maintain leadership by reducing its own carbon intensity 15 percent by 2012.

Dell will meet its 15 percent improvement goal by driving additional efficiencies in its existing operations and ensuring new facilities are highly energy-efficient. Dell will also continue work to identify means to make an absolute reduction in emissions.



Recycling

Dell continues to offer consumers worldwide free recycling of used Dell equipment at any time, and free recycling of other branded equipment with purchase of new Dell equipment. The company regularly conducts third-party audits of recycling vendors to ensure responsible recycling of material collected. Details are available at www.dell.com/recycling