Dell Swaps Carbon Neutrality for Energy Efficiency

It is not easy for information innovation companies to balance growth with sustainability.  Cranky shareholders, Wall Street expectations, and stressed out employees make delivering corporate social responsibility programs a challenge for the most seasoned professional.  Add the fact that IT companies have seen their products–especially computers–become commoditized and assembled through an unwieldy supply chain, and such tasks become furthermore difficult.  And now that companies are moving their business more towards cloud computing solutions, checking that "energy efficiency" box will not be so easy as data centers consume huge amounts of energy.

Dell implies that these programs had a role in the company's strong fiscal year 2011 performance.  Afterwards a tough FY 2010, earnings increased 16 percent, and other financial metrics showed strong growth, too.

Leon Kaye is a consultant, writer, and editor of GreenGoPost.com and as well contributes to The Guardian Sustainable Business; you can follow him on Twitter.  He lives in Silicon Valley.