Renewable Power…and Shaded Parking!

Parking cover topped with solar arrays will help Dell avoid 221,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year - roughly equivalent to planting 23 acres of pine forest every year.

Employees working on Dell’s Round Rock, Texas campus noticed this week a section of the parking lot is temporarily closed – but for a really cool reason! Many of you have suggested on EmployeeStorm that Dell install solar panels on our campuses to integrate more renewable energy into our operations. We listened. We’ve teamed with McBride Inc. and BP Solar to install a parking cover topped with solar arrays. It’s designed to produce 131,051 watts of solar power, which will help Dell avoid 221,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year - roughly equivalent to planting 23 acres of pine forest every year. The structure will cover 50 parking spaces and include two charging stations for electric vehicles.

Dell now sources more than 25 percent of our global electricity needs from renewable sources, and we’re committed to doing more. To that end, the facilities team is launching solar pilot projects like this in every region. The team recently completed a solar water heating pilot project at our manufacturing site in Hortolandia, Brazil. Solar panels on the roof connect to glycol pipes, which wrap around water tanks to heat water for the building’s kitchen and cafeteria areas. This solution is expected to save 76,000 KWh. We’re installing a similar system in our new Casablanca facility.