Dell outlines "greenest IT company" ambitions

BusinessGreen: Last year Michael Dell said he wanted the company to be the "greenest technology company on the planet". That's a pretty bold target?
Tod Arbogast: It's definitely a challenge because it is a crowded space and a lot of the environmental claims doing the rounds can be confusing to customers. Burt we are confident we are genuinely leading attempts to cut the IT sector's environmental impact.

How would you summarise Dell's green strategy?
We've broken it down into four areas. How we design products, what we do in our own operations, how we mitigate the environmental consequences of the acquisition and use of our products, and what our response is as at the end of product life. We've taken concrete actions across each of these areas.

Can you give some examples?
The dominant issues to address is climate change and we've invested heavily in delivering energy efficient products and we believe that in our PowerEdge product line we are leading the market. We are also investing in cutting emissions from out facilities and operations. We emit 400,000 tonnes of carbon, which is significantly lower than many of our competitors, and we feel that our manufacturing and business model means we lead in the carbon intensity of our operations. However, we appreciate the need to do more and we have committed to reducing energy consumption further, using renewable energy wherever possible and offsetting emissions where they are unavoidable. Later this year, we will become the first major IT company to go carbon neutral.

A lot of environmentalists have criticised attempts by firms to brand themselves as carbon neutral arguing they should instead focus on cutting direct emissions.
We accept that point and we really are aiming to reduce our footprint first. The utopia will be when all the energy we use comes from renewable sources, but that is not possible today and we feel that offsetting will have a role to play until renewable capacity increases sufficiently.

Dell's targets for cutting emissions are based on cutting "carbon intensity" by 15 per cent by 2012, but why not go for an absolute emission reduction figure?
You have to look at the point we are starting from [compared to other IT firms]. Companies that have high carbon intensity to start with can deliver deep cuts just by taking out a lot of the inefficiencies they have in their facilities and processes. Whenever a company makes a commitment to cut emissions you need to look at the base line they are staring from. If you are already pretty efficient and you have committed to cut carbon intensity further that is impressive, but if you are less efficient and are pledging to cut emissions in many ways you are just undertaking a business optimisation initiative.

You mentioned product end of life as another area Dell is focusing on. What initiatives are underway to tackle the eWaste problem?
The EU has mandated that recycling be offered at no charge, but we have taken that further and will provide free recycling every where in the world where we operate.

Does free recycling cover the cost of collecting old equipment, as that is a charge that a lot of firms resent paying when they feel they are entitled to free recycling?
There is no charge at all. We cover the cost for the logistics of collection and the responsible recycling processes. We are offering that service to all customers and are challenging the rest of the industry to follow suit.

How you would respond to many of your rivals claims that given they are undertaking similar environmental initiatives the claim that Dell is the greenest technology company in the world is somewhat unjustified?
We feel we are taking a lead in responding to customer demand for more energy efficient products and in improving the efficiency of your operations. However, I’d accept making efforts in those areas are just common sense as it helps meet customer demand and cut costs, and as a result all our competitors have similar schemes. The real differentiator is in taking the responsibility to do the things which you don't have to do but which are right to do. By that I mean we are spending extra money on offsetting and increasing the amount of renewable energy we use and are committed to offering free recycling globally.

Even with those initiatives though there must be a sense that you are generating business benefits?
There is definitely a customer consideration. Public sector procurement bodies the world over are taking suppliers' environmental performance into account now when making purchasing decisions. There is also a sense that a lot of the environmental initiatives you undertake deliver unexpected environmental benefits. For example, back in 2004 we committed to reducing paper use and using more recycled paper. We initially thought that that was a market leadership play without an explicit business or cost benefit. But over time we've realised that offering all our marketing material on paper containing 50 per cent recycled content is a differentiator that resonates with customers.

One area in which Dell has faced criticism, is its support of forestry based offsets through its Plant a Tree for Me initiative offering customers the opportunity to offset emissions from running their PCs. Given that several studies have shown it is difficult, if not impossible, to guarantee projected emission reductions from forestry projects is there not a case for halting the initiative? The starting point for Plant a Tree for Me was the Stern Review's conclusion that 20 per cent of the climate change challenge is the result of deforestation and environmental degradation. That means that at a macro level forestry has a significant role to play in mitigating climate change, while at a micro level we feel tree planting is an effective way of reaching out to customers and getting them to engage with climate change. In this light Plant a Tree for me is an effective solution that we believe is viable.

One big issue for the IT industry as a whole is whether or not improvements in energy efficiency can counter ever increasing demand for energy efficiency. How confident are you that IT can ever reduce its carbon footprint?
The decarbonisation of the energy supply is obviously key and we are committed to help expedite that by purchasing clean energy where possible. However, the progress on the product side is now so rapid that we can bring down overall IT energy use despite increased demand for computing power. Historically, any increase in computing power has been accompanied by an increase in power consumption, but our latest Power Edge products have broken that correlation. Performance has increased significantly and energy consumption is down.

About Tod Arbogast

Tod Arbogast is responsible for managing Dell's Sustainability team and programs.

Prior to joining Dell in 2000, Arbogast was senior director and part of the founding team of eMachines Inc., a desktop and notebook PC vendor, where he managed the warranty and non-warranty support components of the company’s service delivery division.

Arbogast earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Nevada, Reno.