Dell's Concept Luna inspires drive for sustainable product design
Dell Technologies is making strides in its quest to improve sustainability across its product line by introducing Concept Luna, a blueprint for the future of technology where nothing is wasted.
Australia's Dell Technologies is committed to using more sustainable and recycled materials. With the goal of returning as many products as it sells in a bid to mitigate waste and extend useful life, the corporation aims to significantly reduce the 54 million metric tons of e-waste generated worldwide each year.
In a statement, Dell Technologies revealed that, "In just the last two years, our work on sustainability-related innovations has produced more than 430 patent applications as we infuse sustainability across our portfolio. The potential impact of these individual initiatives, viewed across a diverse product line like Dell's, is exponential."
The tech giant's ambitious sustainability drive was inspired by Concept Luna, introduced two years ago. The model for a world where nothing goes to waste continues to serve as an inspiration across the entire company, from monitors and laptops to servers and storage, and all that falls in between.
The company explains that Concept Luna has influenced modular design, a process that facilitates repair, refurbishes, and recycles. This is achieved by reducing adhesives and screws making products easier to repair and upgrade, further extending product and component lifespans.
Over the next year, the company plans to introduce more modular components that are easy to service and further reduce the number of adhesives and screws in their devices.
In addition, Dell Technologies is implementing emissions reduction strategies, designing products with energy-efficient components, overall fewer materials, and sustainable ones, to cut waste and reliance on newly-mined or created materials.
The company is dedicated to increasing the usage of sustainable materials across its products and has ramped up its usage of recycled steel, low emissions and recycled aluminum. They also plan to introduce recycled cobalt for laptop batteries in 2024.
The company is also using intelligent telemetry and digital tools including predictive analytics, AI, and machine learning to extend the life of components.
To make it easy for technology to be returned and recycled and to promote accessible repair, they also provide services that help harvest components and materials for reuse, refurbishing, and recycling.
Concept Luna was the impetus behind Dell's company-wide commitment to sustainability. Positive customer feedback and the need to balance repairability and performance with security, durability, reliability, and longevity have supported this approach.
The company states that, "This is important work, and we are proud of the industry conversations and progress our explorations like Concept Luna have propelled. All companies should embrace circular design and big, out-of-the-box thinking."
