John Sterlicchi | June 17, 2008
TECH companies are practically tripping over each other to tout their green credentials, but it is far from clear that such enthusiasm in translating into more sales.
This is certainly the case with Dell, which has pledged to redesign its laptops and desktops to consume up to 25 per cent less energy within two years.At the moment Dell is ranked fifth among 18 rated companies, in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, ahead of Nintendo, Panasonic, Philips, Microsoft, Acer, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, LGE, Apple, FSC, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Lenovo, but behind Samsung, Toshiba, Nokia and Sony.
The jury is still out, though, on whether being greenest will increase sales.
"It's unclear to me whether green features are a sure bet for improving sales overall," Pund-IT analyst Charles King says.
His observation is backed up by a recent Forrester study, showing that while 85 per cent of IT buyers say green factors are important in planning IT operations, only 25 per cent have written green criteria into their purchasing processes.
"In general, power efficiency, in data centres, IT infrastructures and company and office settings, is an issue that business clients are increasingly conscious of and concerned about.
"So green-enabled PCs, servers and storage systems are turning heads in public and private sector organisations."
Dell says it will meet its energy efficiency goals by continuing to integrate Energy Smart technologies, including circuit designs, fans and power management features.
Dell estimates that OptiPlex desktop systems alone have helped customers improve energy efficiency by 50 per cent since 2005, saving more than $US2.4 billion, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 23 million tonnes, while Latitude laptops have improved efficiency by 16 per cent since 2006.
The company currently offers software that maintains power management configurations across client PCs and 80 Plus-certified power supplies.
The 80 Plus specification aligns to the power supply requirements in the EPA's Energy Star 4.0 standard for computers.
Earlier this year, Dell chief executive Michael Dell said the company was working on a desktop computer that would use 70 per cent less energy and be 81 per cent smaller than a standard minitower machine in use today.
Dell "is jumping with both feet" into the energy conservation space, King says.
"Between combining desktop and notebook power efficient efforts and other green initiatives, Dell is ecologically conscious and not just talking about it but following up on initiatives that are environmentally friendly," he says.
It is far from alone. About 150 tech companies are members of the Green Grid Alliance.
IBM, a member of the alliance, also has its Big Green project.
"Sun Microsystems is working on its multi-threading servers, while EMC has been more articulate for storage systems, more so than any other vendor," King says.
"HP has several systems that cut cooling costs in the data centre by between 15 per cent and 40 per cent."
Microsoft has reduced power consumption in Windows Server 2008 by up to 40 per cent and VMware has brought virtualisation to the forefront, which dramatically reduces the number of servers needed and provides savings on power and cooling costs.
The Forrester Research study highlights some other initiatives through which technology suppliers are putting resources into polishing up their green credentials.
Vendors are investing in, and starting to promote, low-impact manufacturing, energy efficiency and responsible, end-of-life disposal for IT devices and systems, Forrester says.
Power consumption is attracting intense investment and one-upmanship among system vendors.
For example, IBM's CoolBlue system bolts a water cooling unit on to dense racks of IBM BladeCentres to avoid hotspots in data centres.
Dell's Energy Smart server and PC product lines have smart fans, efficient power supplies and low-power CPUs.
Intel's new chip factories use considerably less water and energy than their predecessors, while its rival, AMD, has a new facility in Texas with 2500 employees that is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.