Environment

• Environmental Recognition

  Fri. May. 09, 2008
  by Tod Arbogast, Director—Sustainable Business

  We don’t believe that environmental leadership is defined by how many awards we win.  And when we are recognized we know it doesn’t mean our journey to sustainability is complete. Occasionally, when we are awarded, we do like to celebrate the Dell teams that make it possible.

  Last week we were honored to receive the Commendation for Reporting on Product Stewardship for our 2007 Sustainability Report from Ceres and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).  Our Sustainability team was on hand at the Ceres annual conference to receive the award and we also hosted our latest stakeholder feedback forum with 40 non-governmental (NGO) and socially responsible investor participants.  We expect the 2008 Sustainability Report will be ready in mid-June.  You can see details about our recycling programs which underscore our product stewardship efforts here.

  A few months ago, Working Mother magazine recognized Dell as one of the Best Green Companies for America’s Children.  Earlier this week, Mark Newton is presenting on Dell’s environmental programs to a virtual conference organized by Working Mother media.  It’s one more way we are partnering with customers, stakeholders and members of the Regeneration in sharing what we’ve learned from our own efforts to be environmentally responsible.

  We are thankful for the recognition, and thankful for a customer base that pushes us to do more.

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• Congratulations to Facebook Graffiti Winners

  Wed. May. 07, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  Those of you who have been following the Facebook/ReGeneration Graffiti contest should be interested to know that out of the almost 4,900 entries that were submitted, five very talented artists and one writer have been chosen as the winners.  After more than a half a million votes were entered by the Facebook community for their favorite entries, whittling the total number of entries down to just 150 incredible submissions, our judges had the arduous task of picking the winners, and from the looks of the top 150, they had some very tough decisions to make. 

  Here are the winners for each category in the graffiti competition.  The Best Overall winner will be receiving a green Inspiron laptop, and the winners in the remaining categories each will get Dell 22' Ultrasharp Widescreen Flat Panel Monitors:

  Best Overall:
  
  Nick Tustin (USA)

  Show Us How You Can Improve the Environment Now:
  
  John Calder (Canada)

  Creative Vision of a Green Future:
  
  Anna Leychenko (USA)

  Most Inventive Green Technology:
  
  Benjamin Rennich (Canada)

  Sustainable Arhitecture:
  
  Craig Nolin (Canada)

  The artists were also encouraged to submit text entries expounding upon themes from their art entries.  Another green Inspiron was thrown in for the best text entry to sweeten the pot, and we got some insightful, imaginative and inspiring pieces as a result.  The winner was no exception with his interpretation of a classic Japanese haiku that encapsulated the spirit of the ReGeneration movement beautifully.

  Best Text Entry:
  “The old pond;
  a frog jumps in -
  the sound of water.
  - Matsuo Basho
  
  For me, it is not just going green, it is going back to green. This famous Japanese haiku has a zen peace that is in essence the color green. An overgrown mossy pond, an olive green frog, and even the splashy sound of green. Now if we can truly regain the reverence and respect the ancients had for our world, we can then move forward and actually go green.”
   
  Kevin Todd (USA)

  Congratulations to all the winners, and big thanks to everyone who participated and helped make this contest a success.  The ReGeneration team has a lot of exciting stuff planned for the future, but we'd also like to hear your thoughts on what we should do next.  Stop by Cafe RE when you have a spare moment and share your green thoughts and ideas.  This movement belongs to all of us, after all. 

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• Dell Customers Help Improve Packaging

  Tue. May. 06, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  It's no secret that Dell aims to be the greenest technology company in the world. But on Earth Day last week, sites like The Consumerist, Gizmodo, and other blogs showed us that there's still more work for us to do.

  Shortly after we read those posts, we had a team on the road to Dallas to meet with the vendor that shipped this flash drive to see how we can improve the process. End result, there's some easy fixes and some longer-term issues for us to address. Here's an outline:

  • Immediate: Directive to use envelopes for small items such as these.
  • Short term: Use of smaller boxes. We have requested an optimization analysis of product volume to box size.
  • Short term: Implementation of Dell-defined volumetric metrics on void space in the package to be incorporated into our periodic vendor business reviews.

  While third party items such as these make up a very small portion of our overall shipping volume, folks here know we need to fix it. Our sincere gratitude goes out to everyone who pointed this irregularity out to us. We hope that all of you will continue to provide feedback like this on any of our green-focused Direct2Dell posts, or if you have ideas about ways we can make improvements, please share them in the Environment section on IdeaStorm.

  To do that:

  1. Go to www.ideastorm.com
  2. Login or Register
  3. Click this button near the top right corner of the site (or click this button to the right) 
  4. Enter your idea, then choose Environment from the category list, plus whatever other categories that apply.
     

  We still have a lot of work to do, but with your help we can make Dell the greenest technology company in the world.
  
  Stay tuned for more updates.

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• Are You Really Green or Green with Envy?

  Thu. Apr. 24, 2008
  by Bob Skelley, Dir.—Enterprise Architecture Channel

  In thinking about Earth Day this week I was contemplating the opportunities that are out there for channel partners to go GREEN. Rarely have partners been able to effectively articulate a business strategy built around Green IT initiatives. A lot of channel providers talk about green, they want to be green, but at the end of the day, are they really more green than the rest of the IT industry?

  And yet there are so many opportunities to make this real. Look at what VMware did in 2007 by leveraging their virtualization products to reduce power and cooling consumption. VMware worked closely with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) - who have already paid energy credits and refunds on 5 projects with another 60 pending - while at the same time executing on Green IT initiatives that saved companies about 7,000 kwH per server that they virtualized.

  And now Dell is in the news, Michael Dell was a keynote speaker at Fortune's Brainstorm: GREEN Summit where he was introduced as one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in the country when it comes to environmental issues. It was interesting to me as a fairly new employee at Dell (due to the EqualLogic acquisition) that there were so many Green IT initiatives underway. One of the new product introductions this year is the new Dell blade series that boasts a 28% improvement in energy efficiency and at the conference Michael Dell previewed the company’s smallest and most environmentally-responsible consumer desktop PC. Scheduled to be released later this year, the computer is approximately 81 percent smaller than a standard mini-tower desktop, uses 70 percent less energy and comes in recycled and recyclable packaging – talk about products that channel partners can leverage to begin building a real go to market strategy around Green IT. Add to that a strategy around server and storage virtualization and channel talk becomes channel action. Making it real. What else can we do?

  While traveling in the UK this past summer, I met a channel partner that has already made this strategy real for their clients. At the core of their business model was virtualization but they made sure their clients understood virtualization was a means to realize their vision for reducing client power and cooling costs. But they do not stop there, they are active in community green forums, they belong and contribute to the GreenGrid initiative and they actively market their green strategy. Wow, a partner really doing it and serving their customer’s IT needs at the same time.

  What is your company doing? How are you making it real? What are the other real efforts out there?

  I want to know.

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• Green IT and a Future Low Carbon Economy

  Tue. Apr. 22, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  Today, Michael is joining corporate and NGO leaders at the FORTUNE Brainstorm: GREEN Summit in Pasadena, California. The summit is organized to bring together thought leaders on business’ role in protecting our environment.

  Michael will speak on the critical role Green IT has in our future low-carbon economy – one that allows for growth and innovation with access to reliable power while drastically reducing emissions.

  Dell is making important strides on our company’s climate goals.  Earlier this month, we announced that our 300-acre global headquarters campus is running on 100 percent green power and reaffirmed our commitment to purchase as much green power as is feasible.  We are also ahead of schedule to make our operations carbon neutral beginning this year.

  Dell is working towards environmental goals and achieving cost-saving benefits of efficiencies – currently more than $2 million a year in energy-cost savings.  Our customers are seeing equally dramatic savings from switching to energy-efficient IT products.

  Also today, we’re announcing plans to convene a formal ReGeneration Advisory Group to help guide its efforts. The group will be chaired by Alexandra Cousteau, president of EarthEcho and granddaughter of marine biologist Jacques Cousteau; Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, conservationist and avid tree farmer; and Laura Turner Seydel, eco-living expert and chairman of the Captain Planet Foundation.

  If you haven’t been to ReGeneration.org in the past 24 hours, be sure to drop in. The finalist designs in the International Green Computing Technology Design Competition are posted on the homepage.

  Also be sure to cast your vote in the latest Facebook Graffiti contest.  About 4,900 entries were submitted, many of which have to be seen to be believed.  The 150 entries with the most votes will move on to the judging phase of ther competition.  The text entries that accompany the artwork are being considered in a seperate contest, so if you want the judges to notice your favorites, be sure to vote them up here.

  Lots going on, as you can see, but what matters most on this 39^th Earth Day is that everyone make a contribution to help improve the planet. You can share your ideas here or at ReGeneration.org. The future will require the cooperation of companies, governments, stakeholders and individuals around the globe to protect our shared Earth.

  Happy Earth Day!

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• Earth Day Feature: 5 Steps to a Greener PC

  Tue. Apr. 22, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment

  It's hardly news that personal computing has grown wildly in the past decade.  So much so that some of us (myself included) can barely remember what life was like before e-mail, instant messaging, 24 hour internet news, telecommuting and viral videos of sneezing pandas and laughing infants.  This technology has done wonders in keeping us more connected, informed, and entertained, but these conveniences come at a cost.  Energy consumption associated with personal computing has skyrocketed, and trading in your older computer for the latest technology can have environmental consequences if not handled correctly.

  Not to worry. Today is Earth Day, and in the spirit of the holiday, we are happy to present you with a few tips that will help make your computer usage greener and more energy efficient.    

  1. Be Energy Smart:  Set the Power Options on your computer to switch to sleep mode when it's not active. You can find the power options settings in your PC's Control Panel.  When you're going to be away from your PC for more than a few minutes, set it to stand-by mode and turn off the monitor.  You'd be surprised at the amount of energy saved by this simple act.
  2. Go Flat:  Flat panel monitors use less energy than traditional CRT monitors. In fact, every flat panel monitor we sell meets the EPA's new stricter Energy Star 4.0 guidelines. And skip the screen savers. They contribute to energy waste by preventing a monitor from entering stand-by mode.
  3. Print Wisely:  Print only what you need and use recycled content paper whenever possible. Most printers today have a two-sided printing option which can dramatically reduce your paper consumption. Be sure to recycle used ink and toner cartridges. Dell includes a prepaid envelope in every ink and toner cartridge sold. Simply drop it in any mailbox and we'll take care of the rest.
  4. Reuse and Recycle:  Dell offers an array of convenient options to recycle or donate your used technology. We've also joined Goodwill to form the Reconnect program in several US cities, making recycling your PC as easy as a trip to local Goodwills.  From free recycling on all Dell consumer products to donation programs that benefit the people in your own community, we make it easy to be green.
  5. Offset the Rest:  Once you've reduced your energy use where you can, support carbon offset projects such as reforestation that counter CO2 emissions. Dell has partnered with The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org Foundation, two nonprofit organizations dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and the effects of climate change, to launch the Plant a Tree for Me program.

  Each one of these steps can do wonders to reduce your energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with personal computing, but if done in concert with each other, the results are staggering.  The beauty of these tips and the more general recommendations from me reducing energy consumption is that greening your lifestyle needn't require huge changes or a lot of money to have a noticeable effect on your community and pocketbook. 

  If you want to think green for more than just one day a year, I invite you to join the ReGeneration. To do so, look for this image on the right hand section of the ReGeneration.org site. Clicking on the image below will take you to the main page:

  

  This Earth Day, let's all make an effort to make these simple adjustments to our daily PC usage.  The tasks are so simple, but the stakes are high.

  Happy Earth Day!  

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• Help Us Kick Off Earth Day by Sharing Your #greentip

  Tue. Apr. 22, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Earth Day is upon us, and to kick things off, I thought this might be a good time to try our first #hashtag experiment. If you've got a green tip (or links to green articles you find useful) that you think might be useful to other folks, please share it on Twitter. It doesn't have to be Dell-related, or even technology-related. We're just asking you to share your tips for living greener. If you're new to the whole hashtags thing, here's what you need to know to get started:

  • Create a Twitter account - It's pretty straightforward... go to this link and Enter a User Name, Password, and e-mail address
  • Follow @hashtags - Do this by going to Twitter.com, logging in, and entering "hashtags" in the search window near the top of the Twitter main page, then click the Follow button
  • Type your green tip in the Twitter comment box (in 130 characters or less)
  • End your tweet with #greentip (no "s" on the end, all one word).
  • Press the update button

  Essentially, any time you share a green tip and complete it with #greentip at the end of the tweet, you are enabling it to be tracked here http://www.hashtags.org/tag/greentip/, and if you prefer RSS feeds, you can check that out here. For more information on how hashtags work, take a look at this Making the most of hashtags blog post from Chris Messina.

  Update: Chris Messina himself just weighed in with an alternate way to track the tips: http://twemes.com/greentip. Looks similar to the Twitter web interface, makes the tweets pretty easy to read. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

  But, I don't want to get too bogged down in a technology discussion. This is about Earth Day, and it's about sharing green tips that have worked for you. We'll be reading the tips that you share. 

  One more quick reminder: if you want to see the complete list of green tips, go here. And if you want to track it via RSS, go here.

  Happy Earth Day, folks!

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• A Capital Recycling Event

  Fri. Apr. 18, 2008
  by Joe Strathmann, Sr. Mgr.—Asset Recovery Services

  This Sunday, Dell employees will join volunteers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in hosting a consumer computer recycling event on the Washington mall.  For those in the Washington, D.C. metro area reading this, the event will be held at Freedom Plaza from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on April 20th.

  The National Recycling Coalition and TechTurn are also supporting the event, which is being held in honor of Earth Day.

  Dell hosts one-day recycling events like this from periodically to help raise consumer awareness about the importance of recycling used electronics.  We encourage customers anywhere to use our recycling programs available any day of the year, those include:

  • Free consumer recycling for any Dell branded product at any time
  • Free recycling of other branded products with purchase of new Dell products
  • Product recovery services available to our business and public institution customers providing value recovery, responsible recycling and robust reporting
  • Free donation programs available to any consumer for working, used computer products of any brand which will place the donated equipment with non-profit organizations in the donor’s community.

  It’s important to point out that our recycling partners around the globe who receive this equipment are operating under strict Dell global standards governing their workplace and environmental performance – requirements we require by contract and enforce through third-party audits. Chief among those requirements is a prohibition on export of any waste.

  I know Sunday will be a great event and thank you to the volunteers who are spending time to help D.C.-area customers do the right thing with their used electronics. As always, I look forward to any comments and questions about our recycling programs.

  And an early wish for a Happy Earth Day to all.

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• Green is in the Air

  Fri. Apr. 11, 2008
  by Todd Dwyer, Community Liaison - Environment
  April is already proving to be an exciting month for the Dell ReGeneration team, not only because we’re busy getting ready for Michael’s Earth Day visit to the FORTUNE Brainstorm: GREEN, but also because we’re making great progress on our commitment to be the first carbon-neutral computer company.Last week, we joined with the CEOs of Waste Management and TXU Energy to announce that our global headquarters campus is powered with 100 percent green energy. Sixty percent of the power is wind-based and 40 percent comes from methane produced by a local landfill. We’ve already saved more than $1.2 million and avoided nearly 8,200 tons of CO2 by replacing lights and retrofitting air conditioning units throughout our central Texas facilities. We’ve also saved $1.8 million and avoided 11,000 tons of CO2 globally through a power-management partnership with 1E.

  A few other events worth noting:

  Low-Carbon IT Campaign – We’ve teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency in its "Energy Star Low-Carbon IT Campaign," another way to drive immediate cost savings through power-management.

  Samsclub Joins "Plant a Tree for Me" – Samsclub.com is the first online retail partner to join Dell in offering customers the option of offsetting the carbon impact of the electricity required to power their laptop or desktop, a historic expansion of "Plant a Tree for Me."

  Reconnect Program – Houston is the latest market to offer the Dell-Goodwill Reconnect program. Area residents can responsibly recycle their computer equipment at participating sites.

  Facebook Graffiti Competition – Following up on the overwhelming success of the recent "What Does Green Mean to You?" campaign, we’ve partnered with Graffiti to launch a contest focused on "green" action.

  Café Re – The latest section of ReGeneration.org, Café Re is all about dialogue and self-expression…you can chat with others participating in the Graffiti contest and view the latest art being submitted by users across the globe.Our director of sustainable business, Tod Arbogast, recently spoke to the Federation of Small Business Annual Conference in London, where he provided an update on our progress to become the "greenest" technology company on the planet. Albert Esser, vice president for data center infrastructure, also visited with customers and reporters in Beijing to discuss ways they can increase their data center performance by more than 97 percent while utilizing the same space.

  Lots going on, so thought you might appreciate a quick update. Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas and comments on ways we can partner for a better planet. If you haven’t already, visit www.regeneration.org to join the 130,989 people who are already making a difference. We’ll not only listen, but keep making it easier for you to engage, communicate and integrate green into everything you do.

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• Small Businesses See Environmental Responsibility as Key Business Priority

  Tue. Apr. 08, 2008
  by John Holbrow, Chairman—FSB Energy Policy Unit

  We all hear regularly about what large businesses are doing to address today’s environmental challenges but small businesses are equally concerned about doing their bit for the environment. In fact, “small business and the environment” was the theme of this year’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) conference. Over 800 attendees came together in London last week to discuss the environmental challenges and the barriers small businesses faced.

  Small firms are more environmentally aware and socially responsible than ever before. A survey we ran among 1,700 small businesses last year revealed that the majority of small businesses (92%) are socially and environmentally responsible, with 83% already engaged in waste minimization and recycling. Some may think that legislation is the explanation for small businesses’ becoming more environmentally responsible but we found out that the number one motivation (85%) is personal views and beliefs, followed by 75% citing good business practice.

  However, small firms need our and the government’s help to increase their environmental involvement. We welcome more initiatives such as the Carbon Trust offer of interest-free loans to small and medium-sized businesses investing in energy-saving measures.
  
  With the risk of an imminent credit crunch it will be easy for environmental responsibilities to drop down the list of business priorities. However, the FSB will continue to work hard to help small businesses keep the environment on the business agenda, whatever the economic climate.

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