Technology companies have of late been focusing more on green technology: designing computer processors that generate less heat, building systems that better manage electricity use in data centers and improving manufacturing processes and recycling old computers. The Green Grid, with its blue-chip list of charter members including Intel, AMD, Sun, IBM and VMware, has released guidelines on energy-efficient data centers, even as TechNet -- a network of tech company CEOs -- looks to enhance energy research and find technology-driven solutions.

The moves make excellent business sense. Gartner recently reported that regulations, costs and global warming were driving European IT leaders to 'green' data centers. In October 2006, Gartner analysts in Europe called on IT organizations to curb computing's insatiable appetite for energy. Organizations are under mounting pressure to develop greener approaches towards their IT practices, and IT and business leaders need to wake up to the issues of escalating energy consumption and environmental legislation, the research company says.

"IT's age of innocence is nearing an end," says Steve Prentice, distinguished analyst and chief of research at Gartner. "Technology's clean and friendly 'weightless economy' image is being challenged by its growing environmental footprint."

The telecommunications industry's age of innocence is also drawing to a close. "The telecommunications industry has largely considered itself a good citizen when it comes to the environment and, in comparison to many others, it is," says Leith Campbell, principal consultant at telecomms, software and IT consulting firm Ovum. "But it cannot rest on its laurels and it does have a few potential issues on its hands. They are related both to the environment and social responsibility."

These issues include emissions from mobile phones, the vast amount of paper used in the printing of telephone directories and the mining and use of coltan (columbite-tantalite) ore for use in mobile phones and IT equipment, a chemical that becomes toxic waste when discarded. Campbell says coltan has become the 'blood diamond' of the IT industry, with the mining of coltan in the Congo funding and prolonging a civil war in the east of the country. It has spawned a global movement under the banner: No blood on my cell phone! "The telecommunications industry must respond with comprehensive recycling programs and environmentally credible processes for reclaiming valuable and toxic components," Campbell says.

The list of companies pushing to improve their environmental credentials is astonishing, whether motivated by a sincere determination to clean up their act or fear that doing nothing will invite environmental activists and concerned citizens to come after them with the proverbial baseball bat.

And that fear can prove perfectly realistic -- just ask Apple. After enduring a year of pressure from members of environmental activist group Computer Take Back Campaign, Apple in April 2007 announced a scheme to take back and dispose of discarded Apple products containing toxins such as lead and mercury for Apple customers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs had previously dismissed the group's concerns, telling shareholders they were "bull . . . " during a financial call in April 2005.

However, as if to embody the old saying: give them an inch and they'll take a mile, the activists are refusing to rest on their laurels. Now they are demanding Apple not only set some public goals for how much equipment it will take back but also stop lobbying against producer responsibility legislation.

"When the millions of Apple's obsolete computers and other electronic products hit the landfills and incinerators, millions of pounds of toxic lead and other highly toxic materials will be dumped into our air, land and water," the activists claim.

Other companies have also learned the very high cost a failure to factor environmental concerns into decision making can have. For instance in 2001 the Dutch government seized 1.3 million Sony PlayStations at the start of the Christmas spending spree because they contained illegal levels of the toxic metal cadmium. It cost Sony more than $1 billion to replace all cables manufactured by an obscure supplier, and some of its good reputation.

ActewAGL CIO and general manager commercial development responsible for renewable energy generation Carsten Larsen says CIOs of all stripes should be aiming to eventually achieve a carbon-neutral computing platform. He says that although this may not be achievable in the short term, while organizations insist on buying coal-fired electricity because it is cheaper, it can and should be a long-term aim. ActewAGL is buying green electricity, which is at least a start, but has achieved greater dividends by being an early adopter of LCD screen technology, which requires lower power, and by running the aforementioned thin-client technology and encouraging staff to turn off their computers before leaving for the day.