Guide to Greener Electronics - Dell March 2009

Dell has been dropping down the ranking from 5th place in v.8, to 8th in v.9, to 12th in v.10 and now is in 13th position, with a reduced score of 3.7 points. Dell’s score has plummeted due to the penalty point imposed for backtracking on its commitment to eliminate PVC and BFRs in all its products by the end of 2009. Dell no longer has a timeline for eliminating these nasty substances which means there is no commitment to phase them out entirely.

Dell gains points on energy criteria by committing to reduce global absolute emissions of greenhouse gases from its worldwide facilities by 40% by 2015, from a baseline year of 2007 and for reporting that it now sources some 35% of its US energy use from renewable sources and approximately 20% globally. It loses points on the energy efficiency of its products; although Dell reports that 50% of laptop models and 63% of desktops introduced since July 20, 2007 meet or exceed Energy Star requirements, it needs to clarify what it understands by ‘Energy Star compliant configurations’. PCs need to leave the factory with the most energy efficient settings, which should not go out of ES compliance when consumers tweak power management settings. The company also scores points for disclosing third party verified GHG emissions from global operations.

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