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Q&A: Dell CEO on Green IT

Michael Dell talks with CIO about carbon neutrality, green IT, and federal environmental mandates.

April 25, 2008 — CIO — Technology company Dell is gaining attention for its environmental focus. To find out why, CIO's Publisher Emeritus Gary Beach checked in with Michael Dell (via e-mail) on Dell's green IT efforts and why environmental responsibility should be a number-one priority.

Michael Dell Focuses on Green IT

CIO: I found an AP article that says you instructed Dell engineers in 1992 to build a PC completely out of recyclable materials. Was that your green IT epiphany moment? Did the engineers complete the task?

Michael Dell: I had come to the realization as we produced more and more computers that the devices and products we sell have a defined life. If you're producing, say, 1 million computers a year, it means a million computers are going to come out of circulation in another three to four years. What happens then? We can't just make this piece of equipment someone else's problem. Back in 1992, we said we wanted to have a completely recyclable chassis that didn't have any adhesives or chemical compounds that couldn't be recycled. We accomplished that goal, and continue to keep the environment in mind at every stage of a product's life—from the point at which it's designed and manufactured, through its use by consumers and finally to the point that it's no longer usable.

In your keynote at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, you said Dell would be carbon neutral by the end of 2008. What does it mean to be carbon neutral and how close are you to achieving that goal?

We're making great strides in this area. Carbon neutrality involves measuring greenhouse gases Dell emits through all of our activities, then implementing strategies to reduce and eliminate those emissions. There are a number of ways we hope to conserve energy and resources at all levels across our global operations. For instance, we now power our entire global headquarters campus in Round Rock, Texas, with 100 percent "green power," including a mix of wind and methane-based energy sources. We're also implementing a companywide power management program that automatically powers off machines at night when they're not active. We've already saved $1.8 million and avoided 11,000 tons of CO2 through this initiative globally.

Dell is on track to becoming carbon neutral by the end of 2008. It's also worth pointing out that to date we're the only major computer company to commit to becoming carbon neutral. We believe it's the right thing to do for our customers, employees and the Earth we share.

 

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