September 26, 2007

Dell Plans To Go Carbon Neutral By Next Year

Dell says it will become the first PC maker in the industry to make its worldwide operations carbon neutral by next year, Associated Press reports.

For every pound of greenhouse gas that goes into making, transporting or selling computers, Dell will find an equal offset through renewable energy sources, more efficient management of electricity use and other methods.

Dell says the company saved $1.8 million in electricity bills in the past year just by turning off equipment at night, when it’s not being used.

The move certainly points to a PC industry that has changed tremendously in the past few years. “You have IBM Corp., HP and Dell all battling it out on this environmental field, and that’s very different than ‘my processor has a clock speed faster than yours,’” said John Davies, an environmental and sustainability analyst with AMR Research.

The company also announced a new program called “Plant a Forest for Me” that lets organizations worldwide join together with Dell and share best practices, partner and facilitate the planting of millions of trees in reforestation projects. This program is a continuation of the “Plant a Tree for Me” program for consumers.

The founding members of “Plant a Forest for Me” include Dell, ABN AMRO, AMD, Ask.com, Salesforce.com and WellPoint. Each company has committed to offsetting part of their carbon output by purchasing trees for Plant a Forest. Dell partners with The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org, non-profit organizations that facilitate the tree planting.

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