As green initiatives become more ingrained in the fabric of enterprise IT environments, the necessity and value placed on green technology continues to expand. According to a survey of IDC Green IT Forum registrants, 68% of respondents rated energy efficiency as "top of mind" when thinking about Green IT. Another 51% said their organization's approach to green was directly tied to the cost savings it could provide.

Raw computing performance is no longer top priority as IT executives struggle to find more efficient compute solutions. "In difficult economic times, businesses are faced with rising energy costs and forced to squeeze the most amount of compute power out of valuable data center real estate in the most efficient manner possible," said Vernon Turner, senior vice president, Enterprise Infrastructure. "It's becoming more and more critical for technology users and providers to understand the linkages between environmental sustainability and profitability, and to leverage that information when developing overall business strategies. To that end, the business case for Green IT has never been more important."

Additional survey findings include the following:

- Eighty-five percent of respondents claim that IT will play a medium to large role in their organization's effort to reduce its environmental impact.

- However, an astounding 78% of respondents say their organizations currently have no budgets in place for green IT and/or corporate sustainability initiatives.

- Sixty-three percent of respondents say that they are currently implementing an IT hardware recycling program.

- When managing hardware recycling and disposition, 51% of respondents say their organizations will share the load between in-house staff and outside vendors.

- When retiring assets, security is the top concern among 68% of respondents.