Welcome to the Green Room!

"It's not easy being green." -- K.T. Frog, 1970something. "No, it is easy being green." -- Me, 2008.

Todd et al --- If you have questions about what Dell is doing globally as to greening its operations/buildings/facilities, ask and I'll respond. I work in the Global EHS/Facilities group managing the greening of Dell's operations (along with a few others). We do the green power thing, the carbon neutral thing and, more importantly, the energy reduction thing.

Jeff K

Conserving energy-

Any hints on power saving devices or computer settings? What is the impact of rapid hibernation?

keithberry,

You can adjust the power settings on your computer in a variety of ways.  Most common would be using the power options in the control panel.  On Dell laptops, they can use Dell Quickset or Dell Control Point if they are installed.  Also, turn off the screen saver.  A blank screen uses less energy than a screensaver.  There's also software options that can help manage your power like Nightwatchman.

Not sure about the rapid hibernation question.  Will let you know what I find out.

Thanks,
Todd

:^/ I'm curious what Dell is doing to reduce their own impact upon the environment, and I'd like to see a thread dedicated to suggestions/improvements that others may have.  For example, I work in the silicon industry, and we use highly purified acid in our manufacturing process.  For years, once our acid was too dirty for our purposes, we took pains neutralize it until it was chemically safe before disposing of it.

Well, a few years ago it occurred to us that while our waste acid was no longer suitable for our use, it was still far more pure than what other industries required for their use.  Soooo,we now sell our waste acid to different company with different needs.  The result?  Our combined demand for new acid is reduced, and there is less of a demand on the planet for natural resources.

I'd like to see Dell adopt strategies akin to this, if they haven't already, and to learn more about what they're doing already.

Mr. Pseudonym:

Most of the things Dell is doing can be learned at the Dell Earth link below:

http://www.dell.com/html/global/topics/pure_earth/index.html?&~ck=anavml

or by reading Dell's Environmental Responsibility report:

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/about_dell/values/sustainability/main/chair_ceo?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=0&s=corp

The Dell Press Release archive also contains some info on company initiatives too.

As to your suggestion for a thread on environmental issues, this is the place for that! Let's continue to use the "Green Room" for that.

Thanks for writing!

Mr. Pseudonym,

I'd like to add a bit to Jeff's response to let you know that we have a tool for customers and other interested parties to submit their ideas (environmental and otherwise) to us.  Check out IdeaStorm when you get a chance and click on the "Environment" tab.  Your acid waste suggestion is especially interesting.  Please submit it via IdeaStorm (as well as the success you guys have had with it), and we'll have it routed to the proper folks. 

Thanks,

Todd

;^) Always glad to see a reply to my posts.  IdeaStorm looks interesting, though I only have time to glance at it right now.  Still, I've bookmarked it so that I can return any time I wish.  Thanks, Todd.

Hello Todd

Is this also the forum I would use to ask where Dell gets the minerals tantalite, tungsten and tin used in all of their products?

The warlords of the Congo control the majority of the mining of these products in their country. The atrocities being commited to maintain these controls are uncondonable.

If this isn't the place to write to Dell about my concerns, please forward information concerning who I should contact about them.

Thank you, Wendy

Wendy, I'm looking into this now.  Will get back to you whatever I find out, or at least try to find a contact for you.

Thanks,

Todd

Wendy,

I was able to get ahold of some people on our Corporate Responsibility team, and this was what I was able to find out:

As reported in the Emerging Issues section of our FY08 Corporate Responsibility Report, Dell is committed to continued investigation, stakeholder engagement and industry collaboration on issues in our supply chain including mining and extractives concerns.

Because the electronics industry is a small consumer of tantalum and Dell is many steps removed from the extraction, refining, trading and use of raw tantalum, we have limited direct influence over the social and environmental practices in the mining industry. However, we are aware of the issues in the Congo and believe that an industry level response is the most powerful method for change.

We are working through the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI) Supply Chain Working Group to drive responsible practices through the electronics and information communication technology supply chain. In 2003 GeSI worked with Fauna & Flora International to study and understand the mining of tantalum in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their report illustrates the complexity of how mined material ultimately ends up in electronic products. For more information, see www.gesi.org/activ/representing.htm.

Additionally, we have representatives on the EICC Extractives workgroup. Their main focus is to: understand the supply chain issues with main metals used in our products, including tantalum, tin and cobalt; engage in dialog with relevant stakeholders; conduct supply chain research and mapping to provide insight into material sources; and to engage with other industries in their efforts surrounding the mining and extractives industry. Work with this group enables us to partner with our industry peers to address issues within our supply chain where individually, we may have little influence, but as a whole, can make significant progress.

Finally, many of Dell’s capacitor and tantalum powder suppliers are members of the Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (TIC), which is a nonprofit organization focused on the raw material production aspects of tantalum and niobium. The TIC has cooperated with other organizations such as The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to encourage major processors to obtain their tantalum raw materials from lawful sources in other parts of the world and refrain from purchasing materials from regions where either the environment or wildlife is threatened. The TIC estimates that the Democratic Republic of Congo represents less than 10 percent of the global mine output of tantalum.

In all, we are working at different levels to understand and address this serious issue. Thank you for your concern!

I was having a look at the press briefing for the new e-series notebooks http://www.engadget.com/photos/dells-new-latitude-e-series-for-suits-detailed-by-elaborate-powerpoint-presentation/950047/ (can you send me, or link me the actual ppt please?), and I was stunned to find no slide for green credentials.  I have been asked specifically for green information related to any new IT products we buy.  All I can gleam from that is that it will use our existing docks and the battery last 19 hours!  Would it be possible to elaborate on the point made below re: materials used, how much of it is recycled, and how much of it can be recycled?  Any new features related to quickset that control power usage, latest BIOS energy efficiency and what would be very useful is a slide showing power consumption of a D630 compared to a similarly specced E6400 (for example).  I'm not saying this is simple, but some information would be nice.  Many thanks.

mightyred,

thanks for the question.  Hold tight.  I'm tracking down that information now.

Thanks,

Todd

mightyred:

I was having a look at the press briefing for the new e-series notebooks http://www.engadget.com/photos/dells-new-latitude-e-series-for-suits-detailed-by-elaborate-powerpoint-presentation/950047/ (can you send me, or link me the actual ppt please?), and I was stunned to find no slide for green credentials.  I have been asked specifically for green information related to any new IT products we buy.  All I can gleam from that is that it will use our existing docks and the battery last 19 hours!  Would it be possible to elaborate on the point made below re: materials used, how much of it is recycled, and how much of it can be recycled?  Any new features related to quickset that control power usage, latest BIOS energy efficiency and what would be very useful is a slide showing power consumption of a D630 compared to a similarly specced E6400 (for example).  I'm not saying this is simple, but some information would be nice.  Many thanks.

Mightyred,

Here's that info.

Hi!  I just keep hearing about how the company is "going green" yet I still recieve a ton of mailings from Dell (Flyers and Catalogs).  I can't figure out how to get myself off the mailing list to try to be more waste conscious.  Any idea how I can do this?  Thanks

Nikki