RSSHow did Dell get 'carbon neutral?'
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published August 7, 2008, 3:29 PM
To become the first "carbon neutral" computer company this week, Dell took steps ranging from buying "green" energy in the Round Rock, Texas area to investing in a Madagascan forest, according to a Dell spokesperson.
Launched in 2006 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IAB), the "carbon neutral" initiative calls on companies to voluntarily help squelch the harmful impact of carbon emissions on Earth's climate by undergoing a four-stage process of calculating, reducing, offsetting, and communicating about their own emissions.
In September 2007, Dell unveiled plans to make its operations carbon neutral by the end of 2008, after earlier promising to do so by the end of 2009.
This week, Dell announced that it has already reached its "carbon neutral" goal. In addition to reducing its carbon emissions, the company is also "offsetting" them through a partnership with Conservation International to help protect a habitat and forest preservation in Madagascar.
Dell officials estimate that by preventing the forestland from destruction, the company can help to prevent more than 500,000 tons of CO2 from polluting the atmosphere over the next five years, according to Bryant Hilton, a Dell spokesperson.
In calculating its emissions, Dell looked at all three emission "scopes" outlined by the IAB, BetaNews was told. In line with Scope 1, Dell then reduced its direct emissions. With regard to Scope 3, which identifies a broader range of actions that might be taken, Dell focused on reducing corporate travel.
Dell, though, poured most of its efforts into Scope 2, which calls for reductions in consumption of traditional fossil fuel.
In Texas, the company worked with energy supplier TXO to obtain energy from wind power and other alternative sources for powering its corporate headquarters.
"In parts of the world where we couldn't get [alternative sources], we then invested renewable energy credits," Hilton said.
http://www.tomshardware....bon-greentech,6087.html
People need some extra information
Score: 0
|It is a total scam, and Al Gore is the world's biggest hypocrite scammer, but if these companies want to help protect a habitat or two, good on them! They should do it though through their own philanthropy rather than some make-al-gore rich carbon credits law.
Score: 0
|Agreed.
Score: 0
|Amen on Gore.
Score: 0
|Time to bring back the "dumb ass" Dell dude.
Score: 0
|They can't bring him back since he got busted for smoking pot. Dude, I'm getting HIGH!! LOL
Score: 0
|Not that I have first hand knowledge, but I believe "weed" is "green".
Score: 0
|The concept of carbon credits is total b.s.
So instead of Dell actually cleaning up their act, they just buy credits elsewhere.
It would be as if your neighbor pays you to live by candle light and walk 10 miles each way to work, so he could drive his H2 and keep his floodlights on all night in the backyard.
Yes, his over usage, and your under usage average out, but that's not the point. EVERYONE is supposed to be trying to conserve.
It's just another typical American solution, throw money at it, to make it go away.
I don't eat seafood, so I should get credits because I'm saving the ocean (I don't eat seafood, because I don't like it, but that's not the point).
I also don't eat gorilla or orangutan, so I must be saving the Congo and Indonesia also!
Score: 0
|lol- I dont have money so im helping out the poor people in the world !!
Score: 0
|How dare you expose Al Gore's business plan. You make him look like a complete hypocrite, rather than the savior of the world.
Go nuclear!
Score: 0
|Wow, Dell's computers suck big time, but I gotta give them a pat on the back for this...
Score: 0
|The Dell Optiplex line of Business computers are quite arguably the best in the industry.
Perhaps you are merely referring to their non-corporate consumer offerings?
Paying money to "offset" their carbon footprint doesn't *actually* change their carbon footprint, BTW. Such a feat would require a much larger investment in their factories and other places of business.
Score: 0
|"Wow, Dell's computers suck big time,"
Dude, what the ph*** are you talking about???
Quality wise, Dell is better than most if not all those other companies put together including Apple.
But that carbon credit thing is complete and utter bull$hit.
Score: 0
|Oh good, they saved a Madagascaran forest. For a minute there I thought they killed a bunch of farting cows or had employees hold there breath for 10 minutes each day.
Score: 0
|You know, I haven't destroyed a Madagascaran forest, either. I think that makes me carbon negative by a lot.
Score: 0
|The whole offsetting through donation concept is highly suspect. These tend to be scams hidden under a green facade designed to offer people/companies bragging rights in exchange for throwing money their way. Of course the amount of money required to "offset" a footprint is based on entirely arbitrary calculations.
Score: 0
|That's very true. The whole thing is a scam. My family farms and they have actually been approached by firms to invest in the woods as a cheap way of offsetting their emissions.
What a load of crap. Though I would take the money in a heartbeat. If you're that dumb, you deserve to lose it.
All hail cap and trade!
Score: 0
|It's the Al Gore Make-Yourself-Obscenely-Rich-While-Pretending-To-Be-Pro-Environment plan! Capitalism at its very best.
Score: 0
|And don't forget that government is going to make Gore's money making scheme the law of the land, forcing everyone to put coin in his pocket.
I think they reserve special seats in Hell for guys like him.
Score: 0
|i think "going green" is becoming the biggest marketing term i can remember
Score: 0
|It used to be "low fat", then "low carbs" beat it out, and yes, I think "going green" definitely beat them all out for being utterly meaningless.
Score: 0
|