How Dell Is Making Data Centers Greener Circularity, Cooling, and Smarter AI Ops 

Organizations running data centers face two big pressures: deliver ever-more compute (especially for AI) and cut energy and carbon footprints. Dell is tackling both with a mix of circular-economy programs, next-gen cooling hardware, and software that schedules and optimizes workloads for efficiency. 

What Dell means by “circularity” - real actions, not just slogans 

Dell embeds circular principles across product design and services: designing for repairability, offering take-back and refurbishment programs, and using recycled or renewable materials in products and packaging. The company publishes product carbon footprint (PCF) data and has public targets to increase recycled/renewable content in products. These aren’t marketing lines, they feed Dell’s device-recovery and reuse programs that reduce e-waste and preserve valuable materials. 

Cooling innovations that cut energy use (and enable denser racks) 

Cooling can be 30–40% of a data center’s energy bill. Dell is shipping rack-level innovations, notably an enclosed rear-door heat exchanger (eRDHx), that capture exhaust heat and operate with warmer water temperatures, eliminating the need for traditional chillers in many cases. Dell cites potential energy reductions (up to tens of percent vs. traditional systems) and better support for high-density GPU racks, letting you deploy more compute without a proportional jump in cooling energy. 

Smarter operations: AI workload scheduling and efficiency software 

Dell pairs hardware with software services that optimize where and when workloads run (for example, shifting non-urgent jobs to cooler periods or to racks running on cleaner power). These tools reduce wasted cycles and improve performance-per-watt, a practical lever for sustainability that complements hardware upgrades. Dell’s Sustainable Data Center services and AI Factory guidance explain how customers can combine workload orchestration with physical upgrades for bigger impact. 

Circular outcomes: reuse, certified refurbishment, and materials progress

Dell reports large volumes of reclaimed materials and has worked to increase recycled content in products and packaging. The company’s public ESG and circular-economy pages explain take-back programs, refurbishment pipelines, and product carbon footprint reporting, useful resources when you must demonstrate Scope-3 reductions or procurement compliance. Independent coverage also highlights Dell’s progress incorporating millions of pounds of recycled/renewable materials into devices. 

What this means for IT teams

• Start with an audit. Measure PUE, rack-level power and which workloads drive peak thermal load. Use Dell’s consulting services or the Sustainable Data Center brief to baseline. 

• Think rack-first for cooling. If you’re planning denser GPU racks, evaluate rear-door heat exchangers or direct liquid cooling: they unlock higher density with lower overall energy use. Get vendor spec sheets and perform a pilot. 

• Use workload scheduling. Combine orchestration tools and policies to shift non-critical jobs to off-peak hours or greener sites, this often yields quick wins without heavy CapEx. 

• Leverage take-back & certified refurb programs. When refreshing fleets or retiring servers, use vendor take-back to capture residual value and report emissions avoided. Keep PCFs for procurement records. 

Benefits and limits 

Dell’s approach is multi-pronged and measurable: circular design reduces material demand, cooling tech lowers operational energy, and software improves utilization. But none of this is magic, results depend on your starting point (age of infrastructure, local energy mix, facilities). The fastest wins usually come from combining measures: better cooling + smarter scheduling + gradual hardware refresh. 
 

If your roadmap includes denser AI or HPC racks, treat sustainability as a systems problem: hardware, cooling, software, and lifecycle services must work together. Dell’s circularity programs and data-center innovations give IT teams concrete levers to reduce energy and material impact but success requires measurement, pilots, and cross-team planning.