Five IT things that could start to save the environment

1. Turn it off. Lights at night - especially in offices. Computers, printers, photocopiers, coffee machines. They all consume power most often when they don't need to. Don't forget these devices consume power even when on stand-by or power saving mode.

2. Reuse, Repair and Recycle. IT is a nightmare and throwing things away because they look grubby or out of date.

3. Travel less and work from home. This not only improve a personal local social environment (getting up later, spending more time with family by not commuting), but also reduced our reliance upon heavily polluting transport systems. Of course this needs to be offset by high efficiency household heating and green energy. Perhaps something that employers will assist with in future years.

4. Spend time understanding 'need' and 'want'. Most waste occurs feeding the 'want' - do you need a new computer or want one? do you need the latest version of office or want it?

5. People are part of the environment - we have needs, social needs. Social needs cannot be met by IT, but IT can facilitate it. So when you plan your IT projects and proposals think about how it will help the people socially and the benefits that will bring to the welfare and sustainability of the business (and the communities within that business.)