Green Walk Beats Green Talk

Every company wants to broadcast its efforts to save the environment. But for skeptical customers, a little green messaging goes a long way

by Roger L. Kay

Saving the environment is all the rage, especially in tech. In the past few months, virtually every player of note in the computer industry has unveiled big green initiatives. Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), rivals in silicon, are united in their fervor to save the planet. Ditto for Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). And let's not leave out Lenovo (LNVGY), carrying China's tattered environmental flag.

But before we get all dewy-eyed, let's take a closer look at this barrage of green messaging. Ordinary people don't respond particularly well to pledges of eco-fealty because, in their guts, they know that most measures aren't half enough. Any company that lays its green on too thick risks being greeted with skepticism. To what extent can any company or industry make a difference? When it comes to eco-friendly initiatives, can we separate the wheat from the chaff?

To do that, let me place computer makers' environmental initiatives into categories I'll call compliance, efficiency, and feel-good efforts.

Three Reasons to Go Green

Compliance is what you have to do because governments are getting after you. In the U.S., the vacuum at the federal level is being filled by state law in places like California, Maine, and Minnesota. European governments—especially in Germany, Switzerland, and the Nordic countries—are setting the pace for everyone. Companies would do well to stay out in front of these standards, and many do. In the same way that the Texas Board of Education sets the textbook standards for publishers, the most stringent environmental-law countries set the bar for electronics makers. You might as well sell the one you make for Germany everywhere.

Efficiency is something everybody can buy into. Recycle. Use what you've got better. Do more with less. Companies that engage in these moves lessen their environmental impact—and save money. It's a win-win. A computer industry group called Climate Savers is trying to reduce—yes, actually reduce—the industry's carbon footprint. Climate Savers includes organizations such as Google (GOOG), EMC (EMC), the World Wildlife Fund, Starbucks (SBUX), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Pacific Gas & Electric as well as all the computer makers and chipmakers mentioned above. They propose to go after the big savings first: making a.c./d.c. power supplies more efficient and having all PCs make use of existing power-management schemes.

Then there are steps that make corporate America feel good, but the environmental impact of which can be hard to measure. These measures may combine elements of the first two, but are designed to go above and beyond the call of environmental duty. They make good PR but when overhyped can ring hollow. Dell said early this year it would offset its carbon impact by planting trees. Sounds good, but will that really slow global warming?