HP reworks supply chain for lower energy use

When San Francisco announced it is bettering its environment by banning plastic grocery bags today, it wasn’t the only city in California able to brag about green activity. Palo Alto will soon be feeling greater affects of green business practices. With its home base there, Hewlett-Packard today announced it will make the environment a little better and set a goal to reduce its energy use by 20 percent by 2010.

The global goal compares to HP’s 2005 levels and will see the PC giant deliver more energy-efficient products and institute energy-efficient operating practices in its facilities worldwide, in essence revamping its supply chain through its products and internal operations. 

There are no big surprises here. HP is often noted for its good work by Greenpeace because even when the company isn’t as far ahead as its PR department says, its still ahead of many of its competitors when it comes to creating internal and external green electronics supply chains. (See our December story “Apple slammed by Greenpeace.”)

HP already has desktops on the market that offer 80 percent efficient power supplies. In fact, the company was among the first PC makers to meet the new Environmental Protection Agency EnergyStar 4.0 requirements with the power supplies, which HP claims are 33 percent more efficient than their predecessors.

HP has some 50 products that meet the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)-green computer standard, which mandates via a presidential order that computers registered to EPEAT have reduced levels of cadmium, lead and mercury.

On the energy side, HP purchased 11 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy for use in its operations last year and joined the EPA's Green Power Purchase program, a challenge to Fortune 500 companies to double their renewable energy purchases by the end of 2007. Perhaps the company is just showing off, but HP has said it plans to outdo that goal and will increase renewable energy purchases by more than 350 percent by procuring 50 million kWh of renewable electricity during 2007.

Also on the green front, and specific to its supply chain, HP has instructed its suppliers on how to stay in line with its environmental standards through two supplier training programs, one targeting Central and Eastern Europe and another in China.

HP didn’t say in its announcement today if more programs are in the works or what further initiatives will be enacted to meet its goal on the product side, but it did take the opportunity to point out that it has worked with more than 600 suppliers in its social and environmental responsibility program since 2003.

For more on HP’s energy-efficient plans, click here. For its 2006 Global Citizenship Report, click here.