Stories by: Ted Samson

Managing 14 separate, inefficiently designed datacenters spread throughout a city is difficult and costly enough. Add to that an unreliable primary energy supply that drops off frequently and abruptly, and you've got a huge headache.

Upgrading older hardware with energy-efficient components is an arguably green business choice: By extending the life of your machines rather than trading them in for brand-new ones, you reduce the world's e-waste pile -- while saving yourself some cash. Digital Realty Trust, which owns, acquires, and manages technology-related real estate worldwide, took that philosophy a step further; the company transformed part of a 90-year-old printing plant in Chicago into the world's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-certified datacenter facility.

You may very well prefer to postpone the task of refreshing your fleet of desktop systems and monitors, an exercise that can be both expensive and time-consuming. But inevitably, machines break down or your needs change, so you have to bite the bullet.

Organizational leaders have absorbed the buzz surrounding green tech. Yet the allure of environmental stewardship alone isn't inspiring the majority of companies adopting greener practices. Rather, those all-important greenbacks -- in the form of lower energy bills, ROI, and tax breaks -- are driving many companies toward more eco-responsible, waste-reducing, sustainable IT initiatives.