Energy use accounts for 99 percent of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by our operations and represents one of the largest costs of operating our facilities. The remaining 1 percent of our GHG emissions are generated by refrigeration equipment and HP manufacturing processes. GHG emissions from employee business travel are reported separately in Business travel. (Product transport and employee commuting are not included in this total.)
We strive to reduce our energy consumption, in order to cut our GHG emissions and our costs. In 2008, we reduced our total energy use by 0.7 percent. Our sources of energy were electricity (93 percent) and natural gas (7 percent).
EDS had a carbon footprint of 672,224 tonnes CO2e in 2007, mostly the result of electricity use for data centers and offices, and travel. In 2008, EDS worked with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an NGO focused on resource efficiency, to develop a strategy to improve its environmental performance while at the same time cutting costs. The organization looked at EDS’s main sources of GHG emissions and used this information to identify opportunities to reduce emissions as well as water use and waste.
The study recommended, among other items, that EDS improve efficiency of existing and planned data centers, consolidate and eliminate unused space, launch a campaign to raise employees’ awareness about energy conservation, and reduce emissions from travel by promoting teleconferencing as an alternative. These recommendations are consistent with HP's strategy to reduce costs and reduce GHG emissions, and will be followed in conjunction with HP's overall business and environmental strategies. HP acquired EDS in 2008.
HP Workplace Transformation
We have made good progress in the HP Workplace Transformation (HPWT) initiative,
designed to increase employee productivity, cut costs and reduce our environmental impacts. In 2008, major HPWT projects were completed at our Amstelveen, Houston and Melbourne facilities.
We are consolidating our operational locations to fewer core sites, using space more efficiently and adapting buildings to support a higher density and more mobile workforce. Our goal is to reduce energy consumption and the resulting GHG emissions from HP-owned and HP-leased facilities worldwide to 16 percent below 2005 levels, by 2010. To date, we have achieved a 7 percent reduction in GHG emissions compared with 2005 levels. With the acquisition of EDS and other companies that have occurred since 2005, we will reevaluate our goals once we have completed the integration of EDS into HP.
With the aid of technology, our employees work with greater mobility than ever before. Many work from home or on-site in open-plan, flexible workspaces. As a result, we need less office space and can decommission the surplus. HP now owns and leases less space than we did a year ago, even as our business grew. We added 63 sites while decommissioning 163 sites around the world in 2008, yielding a net reduction of nearly 136,204 square meters, or 2 percent of our total space. We are upgrading our sites with the latest energy-efficient HP technology, including flat-panel monitors and notebook PCs. We are replacing worn carpet at HP sites with carpet selected for its positive environmental attributes. Read about this in Operations – Sustainable building design.
In Houston, we converted 22 floors of enclosed offices to an open plan. This enabled us to close nearly 93,000 square meters (1 million square feet) of office space, and so reduce the amount of energy needed for heating and lighting. We aim to close another 93,000 square meters by using lab and storage space more efficiently. In the Netherlands, we consolidated two operations into an upgraded building in Amstelveen, adapted for a mobile workforce. More than 80 percent of the site's employees are now mobile. Read about HPWT in Melbourne in Operations – Sustainable building design.
Data center consolidation
As part of our three-year IT transformation program, HP is consolidating data centers to reduce costs, eliminate older technologies and improve service levels, while also decreasing the environmental impact of our facilities. In 2008, we completed consolidation of 85 HP internal IT data centers into just six locations in three U.S. cities. Our consolidated data centers are responsible for 10 percent of HP’s total global energy costs.
Our consolidated data centers collectively occupy about 32,000 square meters in Atlanta, Austin and Houston. This is approximately 35 percent less space than previously. The new data centers are expandable to more than double their existing area, enabling us to accommodate future growth without building new centers.
We also consolidated computer rooms at our R&D campus in Cupertino, California, into a single large data center that will reduce GHG emissions by 3,900 tonnes of CO2e each year.
We re-sell or recycle unwanted assets recovered during data center consolidation. Between 2005 and 2008, we recovered more than 44,500 units of IT equipment at HP. Nearly 70 percent of those were wiped clean of sensitive data, refurbished and resold. The remaining units were recycled. By reclaiming such a large percentage of equipment for reuse, HP saved more than $1.75 million. Read more about reuse and recycling.
Electricity use
Our absolute electricity use increased by 0.9 percent in 2008 compared with 2007, because of acquisitions and growth in our outsourced data center services, which are energy intensive. Most of this growth was offset by our energy efficiency and space consolidation efforts. We anticipate that our data center consolidation will cut energy use, and we expect the full benefit of the initiative to be realized in our fiscal year 2009.
In 2008, we completed projects that we expect will deliver savings of more than 40 million kWh of electricity in 2009. We invested $3 million in initiatives including lighting retrofits in parking garages and office spaces; fluorescent lights, motion sensors and other energy-saving technology across our operations; operational improvements; and upgrades to our manufacturing infrastructure.
Also in 2008:
- Singapore. The HP sales building was awarded the national Energy Smart label that recognizes the top 25 percent most energy-efficient buildings in the country.
- Thailand. An HP operation reduced its electricity use by over 9 percent by minimizing lighting outside of core office hours.
- United States. Our Corvallis, Oregon, facility renewed its EPA Performance Track until 2010. In 2008 the site cut its energy use by approximately 15 percent compared with 2007. HP facilities in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and Boise, Idaho, have also renewed their EPA Performance Track for a second three-year term.
| Electricity use, 2005–2008 [million kWh] |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
 |
Americas |
1,740 |
1,670 |
1,700 |
1,695 |
|
 |
Europe, Middle East and Africa |
600 |
574 |
523 |
544 |
|
 |
Asia Pacific and Japan |
461 |
515 |
481 |
490 |
|
| |
Total |
2,801 |
2,759 |
2,704 |
2,729 |
|
|
|
 |
kWh per square meter |
460 |
464 |
474 |
490 |
|
See the regional breakdown of electricity use per square meter in the data dashboard.
Natural gas use
Natural gas represented about 7 percent of HP’s energy consumption from operations in 2008. We use natural gas primarily for heating water and buildings and for food service in HP cafeterias.
Our consumption of natural gas decreased by 47.5 million kWh, or 13 percent compared with 2007, as a result of our HPWT and energy-efficiency initiatives. Because we have reduced our real estate footprint and are using our space more efficiently, the net result was lower natural gas consumption.
Natural gas use, 2005–2008 [million kWh] |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
|
Americas |
243.0 |
241.0 |
234.5 |
210.9 |
|
|
Europe, Middle East and Africa |
173.0 |
171.0 |
107.6 |
84.8 |
|
| |
Asia Pacific and Japan |
14.4 |
25.7 |
14.5 |
13.4 |
|
| |
Total |
430.4 |
437.7 |
356.6 |
309.0 |
|
|
|
|
kWh per square meter |
71.0 |
74.0 |
62.5 |
55.5 |
|
See the regional breakdown of natural gas use per square meter in the data dashboard.
Renewable energy
HP purchased approximately 102 million kWh of renewable energy worldwide in 2008. Voluntary renewable energy purchases represented 4 percent of HP’s electricity use in 2008, in addition to the renewable energy available by default in the power grid. This is up from 2 percent in 2007. Overall, 17 percent of our space benefits from these purchases.
In 2008 we set a goal to double our voluntary purchases of electricity from renewable sources from 4 percent of our total electricity usage in 2008 to 8 percent by 2012 (in addition to the renewable energy available by default in the power grid). To meet this goal, we are exploring opportunities with providers of wind and solar power, participating in green energy programs and securing renewable energy.
We have contracted an energy provider in Texas to supply one of our Austin data centers with 19.9 million kWh of wind power annually for 20 years, equivalent to 20 percent of that center’s current energy needs. We met nearly 90 percent of our Irish operations’ energy needs using wind power in 2008, saving around 40,000 tonnes of CO2e. This partnership came to an end in October 2008. In FY 2009, the power delivered for our Ireland operations by our current energy supplier will be 50 percent renewable.
In 2008, SunPower Corporation began to generate solar energy at HP’s San Diego facility, using 6,256 solar panels. The panels will produce 1.7 million kWh per year, meeting over 10 percent of the facility's energy needs and reducing CO2e emissions by more than 550 tonnes. We have committed to buy this energy from SunPower for 15 years, saving over $750,000 beginning on day one of the agreement. As part of the initiative, HP and SunPower offered HP employees reduced-rate solar panels for their homes. More than 600 employees requested proposals for solar panels, and over 60 of them have already had the panels installed.
See detail about renewable energy purchasing in the data dashboard.
