Sep 26 2008
Sustainability Lessons from nVidia
Graphics processor company, nVidia, has a corporate culture that prizes employee participation in 
generating ideas for new products and processes. The company also places a high value on cost-consciousness. nVidia’s sustainability programs reflect these cultural norms and that is fundamental to their success. Other tacit principles that guide the nVidia “Visualize Green” program are: leveraging membership in external organizations and placing responsibilities with the right internal groups that can best develop and execute programs.
Idea Platform Builds on Culture of Employee-Driven Innovation
Building on its culture of employee-driven innovation, nVidia has developed an “idea platform” for its “Visualize Green” initiative. This intranet-based tool, which launches in October 2008, provides a way for employees to submit sustainability suggestions, to vote and comment on them, to see the status of the ideas and then, ultimately, to track the ideas in action once they are implemented. Developed by an internal team, the long-term plan for the idea platform is to extend its use to other facets of the company, such as new product innovation.
Investing in Projects with Clear Payback
nVidia is willing to invest cash upfront in programs that have a clear payback. The company recently de-lamped all the three-tube fluorescent light fixtures in place at its Santa Clara, California headquarters. They hired a team at a cost of $62,000 to remove one fluorescent tube and its ballast from each of the overhead fixtures. Even with only two tubes, the candlepower to the work areas remained more than sufficient. Their projected energy savings in the first year alone: $83,000. Payback period: 9 months. Estimated annual emissions reductions: 329 metric tons of CO2 equivalent. The cost justification for the program was conducted in advance by an intern provided to nVidia through the Environmental Defense Fund’s new Climate Corps program.
A smaller, simpler project with clear payback was the installation of “Vending Miser” controls for all the vending machines at headquarters. This clever product monitors occupancy levels, ambient temperatures and other factors and powers down vending machines’ lighting and compressor cycles when they are not required. nVidia convinced their vending contractor to install the controls and spent nothing on this project directly. Estimated annual emissions reductions: 39 metric tons of CO2 equivalent.
Leveraging Membership in External Organizations
nVidia has found, just as Symantec did (see our post), that membership in external organizations and public commitments can catalyze activity internally. As a member of the EPA Climate Leaders program, nVidia will soon be publicly stating specific goals regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and Power-Usage Efficiency (PUE)* metrics. These commitments will drive business process changes – in particular, changes in data center operations.
nVidia is leveraging its membership in the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) to make modifications to its supply chain in order to ensure more sustainable practices among its chip and board suppliers.
In 2006, nVidia received its initial ISO 14001 certification (Environmental Management System). Current goals of the EMS include: a 10% reduction in water usage in the United States within the next two years and a 60-80% landfill diversion rate for waste. The Environmental Management System has provided a platform through which to engage the international locations of nVidia in establishing specific sustainability goals.
Putting Responsibilities in the Right Places
Tonie Hansen, the dynamo who heads up the nVidia philanthropy and social responsibility areas, reports to the head of nVidia’s investor relations department. From this position, she is able to get needed visibility at the executive staff level. In addition, from here, she is able to influence the company’s policy so that it maintains its positive reputation with those investors who focus on social responsibility. (nVidia is included in the FTSE4Good index.)
Three key areas of the company are charged with responsibility for sustainability programs: 1) business operations (including facilities, IT, purchasing), 2) supply chain and 3) products. Since data center operations account for some 60% of the energy used directly at headquarters, this group will be pivotal to achieving the PUE and GHG goals. Budget for specific sustainability programs is located within the functional areas responsible for implementing those programs. So, for example, the cost of the de-lamping project was part of a regular facilities budget, rather than a separate “sustainability” budget.
“Visualize Green” Program Does More Than Just Visualize
nVidia’s sustainability program will do more than just “visualizing green;” it will move the company forward to actually being green as it adheres to these key principles:
- Build on cultural norms.
- Invest in projects with clear paybacks.
- Leverage membership in external organizations.
- Put responsibilities in the right places.
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*PUE is a metric created by the Green Grid and is calculated by dividing the amount of power used in a data center by the power used to directly run the information technology infrastructure in that data center. The rest of the power is used on such things as heating, ventilation and air conditioning.