Computer users energy hogs? Not necessarily

Also, when shopping for a new computer, consumers and businesses alike can opt for models certified by the federal government as energy efficient with the Energy Star label. If all computers sold in the U.S. met Energy Star requirements, Americans could pocket $1.8 billion annually in saved energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equivalent to taking some 2 million cars off the road.

Individual responsibility aside, the creation and management of more efficient data centers by the major online hubs is what can have the biggest impact. This is especially true as we enter the age of "cloud" computing, whereby most of the software, content and services we look to our computers for reside online and are served to us as-needed. Google, Facebook and Amazon.com are already deeply committed to the cloud computing model, with Microsoft, Yahoo and others following suit consequently.

April report titled How Dirty Is Your Data?

In an April report titled "How Dirty Is Your Data?" the nonprofit Greenpeace examined energy sources for the 10 largest IT companies involved in cloud computing, finding Apple, Facebook and IBM especially guilty of getting significant amounts of power from coal-fired power plants.

In the long run, analysts think the widespread shift to cloud computing will be a great boon to the environment. A report released in September by Pike Technology, "Cloud Computing Energy Efficiency," predicts that because of the shift to cloud computing and increasing efficiencies, data-center power consumption will decrease by 31 percent between 2010 and 2020.