The Greening of the IT Giants, What's in it for YOU?  

As we ring in the New Year, Green Edge is pleased to report that technology companies are scrambling to outdo one another when it comes to employing public-facing carbon footprint reduction strategies. Although it's sometimes challenging to evaluate whether significant progress is really being made, multinational technology giants are improving their environmental sustainability in ways that can translate into meaningful carbon footprint reductions for your company.  

Greening Your Supply Chain  

By purchasing technology equipment and services from vendors that publicly report on their own carbon footprint reductions, you can gauge how those reductions will impact your company's sustainability. Consider recent disclosures from HP, SONY and Phillips: In September of 2009 HP achieved an overall goal to reduce the combined energy consumption and associated GHG emissions of its operations and products to 25% below 2005 levels. Their new goal is to reduce the energy consumption and associated GHG emissions of all HP products to 40% below 2005 levels by the end of 2011. Sony cut GHGs by 17% over the 8-year period 2000-2008 and, as part of its Road to Zero commitment, Sony is aiming for a 14% reduction in total CO2 emissions associated with all transportation and logistics (compared to fiscal 2008).Philips is committed to reducing its operational carbon footprint by 25% by 2012, using 2007 as a baseline. Overall CO2 emissions dropped 10% in 2009 compared to 2008, with emissions from manufacturing decreasing by 6%. We recommend that before making your next technology purchase you factor in the sustainability achievements and ongoing goals of the vendors you are considering, which is a meaningful step in greening your supply chain.

Reducing Your Energy Consumption

As a result of energy efficiency improvements in computers, cell phones, audio/visual equipment and lighting, swapping out old equipment for new will reduce your company's energy consumption and costs. As a further incentive to consider making these improvements in the short term, keep in mind that the recently passed federal tax bill will allow your company to deduct the full cost of the new equipment in the year the cost is incurred, rather than depreciating it over time. According to one computer manufacturer, if all the printers, PCs and servers shipped throughout the world in 2005 were recycled and replaced with new energy-efficient models, more than $10.4 billion in energy costs would be eliminated and more than 40 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in the first year alone would be eliminated.

Recycling Your E-waste  

When you upgrade to that new energy-efficient equipment, you don't have to throw out your old computer equipment, or for that matter, empty printer cartridges or yesteryear's cell phones. Throughout the U.S. and in many other locations globally, companies ranging from Dell and HP to Panasonic and Spring/Nextel will recycle their own products at no cost, and in some cases take back their competitors' products or pay you to recycle your e-waste.

Dell, for example, has partnered with Goodwill and Staples to accept your e-waste. Motorola will "take back" radios, mobile computers, barcode scanners, imagers, in-vehicle mobile workstations, accessories, network infrastructure equipment and computers, laptops and monitors from its business customers.

Although relevant information about vendor recycling options is often available on their websites or from sales personnel, in some cases it can be challenging to find. If all else fails, try investor relations: it's in every company's best interest to make sure that information about how they are helping customers reduce their carbon footprints is available when needed.

In addition to factoring in vender sustainability and the energy efficiency of your next technology purchase, we suggest that a vendor recycling option for your soon to be old equipment be a condition of your next technology purchase. Given the 20-50 million metric tons of e-waste that is generated every year, this is a no-cost way to make a meaningful contribution to the climate change solution. For more low- and no-cost ideas about how your company can reduce its carbon footprint, contact us.