The best and easiest strategies to reducing the environmental footprint of your computer systems are to:

• purchase EPEAT Gold certified computers and Energy Star 4.0 certified peripherals that are appropriate to your organization's needs,
• turn them off when not in use, and
• set up energy conserving power management settings when the machines are idling.

With continued advances in energy conservation technologies for computer systems, newer desktops, laptops and peripherals will certainly consume less power than current models. Of course, this doesn't mean you should run out and replace perfectly good systems now. Taking in to account manufacturing and disposal issues, it is probably better to adjust how and when existing computers are used rather than simply upgrading. So when the time comes, feel good about selecting a new system that meets EPEAT and Energy Star certification.

Consider the impact of your servers and hosting environment as well. Just because they are "somewhere else" doesn't mean they don't need to be an important part of your energy conservation.

The research group Gartner Inc. recently released a report which put "Green IT [at the top of] the list of strategic technologies that companies should consider in their planning processes" for 2008. This is just as true for nonprofit organizations. As we look to maintain or increase our effectiveness and efficiency, we need to be making decisions with long-term impact. Integrating and implementing a green IT strategy is an easy way we can all influence the financial health of our organizations and, more importantly, the ecological health of our communities and the world.