Round Rock (TX) - Dell wants to become the "greenest technology company on the planet" and part of that goal will be to cut the power consumption of its desktops and laptops by 25% by 2010, the company said today.

Dell claims that it already is offering some of the most energy efficient computer systems available today, stating that its Optiplex desktops have improved their energy efficiency by 50% since 2005, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 23 million tons, while Latitude laptops have improve their efficiency by 16% since 2006.

As a system vendor, Dell heavily relies on hardware suppliers to achieve its energy consumption goal, which explains why the company wants to work "closely with its suppliers "to further develop and deliver energy-efficient components, including chip sets, power supplies and memory." The company said that it will continue to integrate Energy Smart technologies in its products.

Cutting power consumption is just one component of green initiatives (albeit a very effective one in marketing), but it appears that Dell is also ahead of other technology companies in other "green" trends. According to Greenpeace’s "Guide to Greener Electronics", Dell is ranked #5 in among 18 rated companies - ahead of Nintendo, Panasonic, Philips, Microsoft, Acer, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, LGE, Apple, FSC, HP, Motorola and Lenovo, but behind Samsung, Toshiba, Nokia and Sony.

Greenpeace’s main criticism is that Dell’s products aren’t completely free of toxic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) today. However, the company announced intentions to replace these materials in the 2009 time frame.