Case Study: Dell

In the face of declining sales, dropping profits and a weak stock price, PC maker Dell is vowing to go as green as possible.

The company's strategy is simple: Consume electricity efficiently first, and consume renewably second.

The company's efforts to become energy efficient are well known. But perhaps most surprising is Dell's embrace of renewable energy.

Tod Arbogast, Dell's Sustainable Business Director, says that 35% of the electricity the company uses in the U.S. is from clean and renewable sources. Globally, Dell's use of renewably generated electricity is 20% of its total.

Considering that electricity generated by renewable sources amounts to about 2% or 3% of the total energy used in the U.S., Dell's use of renewable energy is off the charts.

Energy partnerships matter in connection with clean energy real estate strategies. And Arbogast gives credit to Austin Energy, a utility in Austin, Texas, for being progressive about its use of clean energy.

The conventional view of renewable energy is that you have to pay more for it. But Arbogast says that Dell is saving money by using wind and landfill-to-methane-generated electricity.

"We're working off a base of 12 cents a kilowatt hour electricity, and we're still saving money," he says. "We engage in long-term contracts, and for a certain period we pay a premium [to fossil-fuel-generated electricity], but it doesn't take that long for the traditional-energy cost to surpass our fixed-rate cost" and help Dell save money.

Eventually, says Arbogast, Dell aims to use electricity that is 100% generated by clean and renewable sources. The company doesn't have a timeline to reach that goal. But in the meantime, to offset the 65% of electricity it uses domestically that is generated from fossil fuels, Dell is buying green offsets, "credible, vetted, third-party-verified renewable energy credits," says Arbogast. Dell is the only one in the PC industry doing this, he added.

Clearly, Dell is positioning itself to get in front of the carbon regulations that are currently being discussed in Congress - a best practice for every company.

See: "Dell's Green Energy Strategy" by Kerry A. Dolan