Austin Real Estate Blog

At Dell’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, the goal is to be carbon neutral by the end of 2008. The 2.1 million square foot campus is already powered 100 percent by renewable energy sources: 40 percent landfill generated methane gas from Waste Management’s Austin Community Landfill gas to energy plant and 60 percent wind generated power from TXU Energy’s wind farm.

Dell is concentrating green efforts toward increasing the percentage of renewable energy use from 8 to 17 percent, replacing lighting and air conditioning with more energy efficient units, and using 100 percent renewable energy sources at their Idaho plant - 97 percent wind and 3 percent solar power.

Additional environmental efforts on Dell’s part include a Plant A Tree Program - in which they plant a tree for a small additional fee on every purchase made - a free computer recycling program, and products which are ranked among the most energy efficient lap- and desktops on the market today. The OptiPlex 755, Inspiron 531, Latitude D630, and the PowerEdge product line combine to save customers more than $2 billion and over 22 million tons of carbon dioxide.

These energy initiatives are expected to save Dell almost $2 million in annual operating costs and cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 12,000 tons per year. Renewable energy costs are also not as subjected to the whims of the market, thereby keeping the company’s energy budget under control.

Dell had announced their intention to go carbon neutral in September of 2007 and they are well on their way to meeting this goal by the end of 2008. As Paul Bell, president of Dell, says, “it’s time for our industry to take a lead role in creating a clean energy future.”