Companies typically focus their green IT efforts on datacenter operations, but by failing to address the distributed PC environment, they're missing out on significant energy and financial savings. By Doug Washburn

The Climate Group estimates that, in 2007, PCs and related peripherals consumed close to three times more energy and related CO2 emissions than datacenters did. So why are datacenters hogging the green IT spotlight?

Hopefully, AT&T s recent announcement will certainly help raise the profile of PC power management s potential. By installing 1E s NightWatchman PC power management software on over 300,000, AT&T expects to save more than 135m kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and upward of 100,000 tons of CO2 emissions a year simply by powering down the PCs during non-work hours. According to my rough calculation this translates to a whopping $12.8m per year or $42.75 per PC per year. [Calculation: 135m (kWh) x US national average price per kWh of $.095 = $12.8m]

For IT managers looking to green and reduce the costs of operating their PC environment, consider this: By turning off or at least powering down your PCs during periods of inactivity such as at night or over the weekend Energy Star estimates that firms can save anywhere between $25-$75 per PC per year. And this is backed up by high-profile case studies. For example, PC power management is helping Washington Mutual, General Electric, and Dell enjoy an annual savings of $3 million, $2.5 million, and $1.8 million, respectively.

My advice? While powering down your energy-consuming PCs during periods of inactivity (e.g. nights, weekends) will undoubtedly save you money and reduce your computing-related carbon footprint, consider PC power management software like AT&T has. In short this technology will help administrators manage and deliver PC power management to end users through centralized provisioning and administration, while tracking benefits overtime with reporting tools. Vendors might include your existing client management suite providers like BigFix, LANDesk, Symantec, or 1E or pureplay options like Verdiem.

Can you say "low-hanging fruit"?

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Doug Washburn is analyst at Forrester Research, where he advises clients on sustainable business and green IT practices and the role of technology in business. He also hosts SLM's Greener IT Update e-newsletter.