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A carbon-reducing tree planting initiative backed by Dell and Ask.com will complement the deployment of new energy efficient servers for Ask's datacenters.

'Ask, Dell Do Some Gardening

Ask.com announced it will be the first corporate customer of Dell's 'Plant A Tree For Me' program. The program aims at creating an environmentally friendly response to electricity usage by planting thousands of trees to offset carbon emissions.

The new energy efficient servers should not affect the performance of Ask's datacenters. Ask touted a 30 percent lower rate of energy consumption that does not compromise the performance of their systems.

Tree planting happens as part of a partnership Dell has with a couple of organizations. The non-profit groups Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org plant trees in managed reforestation projects to sequester carbon, Dell said in a statement about the project.

Ask and other major search players like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have all made advances toward building up datacenter operations in Eastern Washington. The availability of clean, and cheap, hydroelectric power is a necessity for an industry that consumes as much in resources as any company can willingly commit to it.