HP outlines aggressive green agenda

HP has pledged to save one billion kilowatt hours of electricity by 2011

HP has boosted its green credentials with a series of environmental projects and goals, as well as a host of additions to its HP Eco Solutions programme.

The move comes after the company boasted that it had beaten many of its previous green goals, including reducing the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 per cent 18 months early.

Across the company as a whole, HP has now pledged to save one billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity by 2011 through a variety of product design strategies.

As part of the announcement, the firm is also doubling the number of HP ProLiant G6 server platforms, improving the efficiency of its printing products by 40 per cent by 2011, and halving the amount of plastic used in printer packaging.

"For more than 50 years HP has been focused on environmental sustainability, and now we are making it even more relevant for customers, especially in today's economic climate," said Shane Robison, executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer at HP.

"Through our industry-leading products and solutions we are helping our customers, from consumers to large corporations, achieve significant savings and improve their environmental performance while enhancing our own operations to achieve the same."

On the consumer front, the company is pushing its range of energy efficient thin clients, and revealed that 26 of its PC product families will meet the new Energy Star 5.0 specifications which come into effect next month.

Similarly, HP's ProLiant DL360 and DL380 servers are the first from the company to meet the new Energy Star for Computer Servers 1.0 specifications, with more promised in the coming months.

HP has already exceeded its 2008 goal of tripling the amount of recycled content in its inkjet printer products, and doubling the amount of recycled content used in its inkjet cartridges, and expects to use a total of 46 million kilos of recycled plastic in its printing products between 2007 and 2011.

"HP's 'closed loop' inkjet cartridge recycling process is unique in the printing industry," said Cathy Martin, senior consultant at research firm InfoTrends. "We expect that business and home users will demand more of this kind of environmental responsibility from the companies from which they purchase office equipment."

HP also highlighted its Planet Partners return and recycling initiative, which it has expanded in to Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The scheme allows business customers in more than 50 countries to recycle any brand of IT equipment as well as HP print cartridges.

The company is also calling on PC users around the world to do their bit to combat climate change and reduce global carbon emissions.

HP has launched the 'Power To Change' campaign, which asks users to download a small desktop application that tracks power consumption and highlights the energy savings associated with turning off PCs when not in use.

"With Power To Change, individuals and organisations can make a small environmental commitment that has the potential for a large impact on addressing sustainability challenges today," said John Frey, Americas sustainability executive at HP.

HP reckons that 100,000 users shutting down their work computers at the end of each day could save around 2,680kWh, cutting carbon emissions by over 1,500Kgs a day.