Dell and Carbon Neutrality: A Chance to Clear the Air?

Carbon neutrality is a topic we are reminded of everyday. As our awareness and understanding of the effects of our society on the planet’s atmosphere continues to increase, we are constantly being placed under more and more pressure to reduce our “carbon footprint” and adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle. The idea is that we as a society all cut down on our carbon emissions by resorting to alternative methods of power and an increase in the use of renewable resources. While this idea may be considered reasonable on a personal scale, just how feasible would such a plan be when applied to an entire industry?
It is evident that the largest contributors to excessive carbon emissions is the industrial sector; so what is the industry doing to resolve this and just how realistic is the idea of an entirely carbon neutral company? My inquiry will attempt to answer these questions by focusing on the plans, intentions and current methods put in use by the popular computer manufacturer Dell.

The Zero Carbon Initiative

Founded in 1984, Dell is one of the leading global home and business computer manufacturers today. Earlier this year Dell claimed that it had launched a new environmental initiative to become “the greenest technology company on earth”. The so called “Zero Carbon Initiative” aims to improve the energy efficiency of all future Dell products, reduce the levels of carbon emissions generated from all its research and manufacture operations, enable customers to offset their carbon emissions with the “Plant A Tree For Me” program, encourage their suppliers to be more eco-friendly, and
increase their use of environmentally sustainable products through the use of more renewable resources.
Although this initiative may appear to be a genuine effort by Dell to make considerable progress towards the dream of carbon neutrality, the plan has been substantially criticised by environmental groups due to the fact that under these proposals Dell intends on a 15% reduction in carbon intensity by 2012 yet has set no definite targets for overall CO2 reduction. Because carbon intensity simply compares CO2 emissions to annual revenue to measure efficiency, Dell could in fact meet its target while actually increasing emissions so long as efficiency improved and sales rose.
It is issues like these which call to concern not just the practical feasibility of a carbon neutral company but also whether industrial ethics (or lack thereof) or willingness to comply could ever truly mean a carbon neutral company would ever exist.

How does it affect me?

As a consumer of Dell products and a student in the field of computer engineering this has personal relevance to me because if a carbon neutral company were to succeed this would heavily influence my future choice in hardware for personal or business use as I would personally be more inclined to purchase a product which is either eco-friendly itself or is derived from a company which truly makes an effort to improve itself environmentally and in turn aid in the global reduction of CO2 emissions. Because I belong to a generation which now has the resources available to them to collect such information I feel it is my moral responsibility to select and work with only those products which can improve our quality of life. By pursuing this line of inquiry I hope to gain a valuable insight into the methods, applications and limitations encountered in the progression towards carbon neutrality. Hopefully in the future I will be able to reflect on what I have learned and be able to incorporate it into my own line of work whatever that may be.

Inquiry

For my inquiry I intend to gather a combination of both quantitative and qualitative evidence including statistical and critical analysis, company reviews, environmental criticism and hopefully personal opinions in order to generate a non-biased portrayal of Dell’s environmental profile and efforts. In order to do this I will first need to research in-depth into the various operations and measures Dell currently has in place to reduce its carbon emissions and to analyse the effectiveness and efficiency of these schemes. The majority of current operations are listed on the dell website which is updated regularly and informs users of all their latest environmental progress. However in order to measure the effectiveness of these scheme more research will be need through secondary sources such as Dell’s global standing with Greenpeace and measuring Dell’s emissions in comparison to the industry using statistics provided by such sources as the American EIA (Energy Information Administration) and the UK DEFRA (Department For Environment Food and Rural Affairs). It will also be essential to gain a perspective on how Dell’s plans have been accepted by environmentalists and society as a whole. Fortunately the internet provides a wealth of criticism and evaluation by everyone from environmental groups, various other computer related companies and a large number of IT professionals who provide their personal views and opinions through their own websites and blogs. I feel these will provide very useful as IT professionals with experience will have the greatest insight into whether Dell has gone far enough or could a lot more be done to reduce emissions. I may also carry out surveys to gain an insight into public reaction.

Hopefully from the data I gather I can draw a suitable conclusion that will let me gain a true insight into just how committed the computer industry is to improving its eco-friendly status and working towards carbon neutrality and how plausible any carbon neutral company really is.