Microsoft CSR Report Shows Energy Savings and Emissions Reductions

Microsoft, the world's largest software company, released its 2009 Corporate Citizenship Annual Report (PDF).

Earlier this year, Microsoft pledged to reduce its carbon emissions 30 percent over the next three years.

Here are some details from the new report.

• At Microsoft's  headquarters, a free bus service for employees eliminates more than 6.7 million car miles and nearly 3,200 tons of annual carbon emissions.
• New Microsoft facilities are designed to LEED Silver certification, meaning they consume 20 percent less energy than traditional buildings.
• Energy saving features in the Windows Vista operating system could cut users energy bills by $50 a year, citing information from the National Resources Defense Council. This potentially could reduce U.S. power plant emissions by 3 million tons a year.
• Working with other companies in the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, the global carbon footprint from computer use could be reduced by 54 million tons annually by 2010.

Read more about Microsoft's CSR efforts here.

Recently, Microsoft released results of a comparative carbon footprint study that quantifies the environmental benefits by providing its software to consumers online.

The digital distribution study, based on the online download of 10 million copies of Microsoft Office 2007, avoided eight times the amount of carbon emissions, or reduced the total tons of carbon emissions by 88 percent, compared to producing and shipping a DVD and its associated packaging through traditional retail distribution channels.