Computers and their peripherals can add quite a bit to energy bills, but there are a number of ways you can reduce this by what you buy and how you set it up. How they are made and what they are made of is also important, and your choice matters here as well.

The main things to think about are:

• what materials have been used in their manufacture
• how much energy was used to make them
  
• how much energy they use
• end of life

Materials

Considerations here are avoiding sensitive materials - things like mercury, cadmium and lead; reduction in the amount of materials; use of recycled materials. How they are packaged for delivery is also something to take into account - is the packaging kept to the minimum needed for protection, is it made from recycled materials, will they take it back for re-use, is it recyclable,?

Energy

Information and communications technology (ICT) equipment uses far more energy than most people realise - about 10% of the UK's electricity consumption. Only about a quarter of this  is used by data centres.

One very straightforward to save energy is enable all the energy-saving features and to ensure that everyone turns off their computer - and their monitor - when they go home at the end of the day. According to Global Action Plan's Green ICT Handbook, about one third of the UK's employees don't. Although servers do have to be left on, most computers don't - but there are still a lot of myths around about this. Some people still believe that turning them off and on is bad for them - which has not been true for many years. Modern hard drives are designed to cope with being turned on at least 40,000 times in their lifetime, according to the Green ICT website.

ICT equipment, of course, also gives the opportunity to save energy, by making  use of video conferencing, electronic file transmission and soft proofing.

When buying new equipment, the opportunity is there for finding the most energy-efficient that meets your needs, and the Energy Star is a good guide for this.

End of life

The first way to make a difference is by making sure your equipment has the longest life possible. So look for equipment that is easily upgradeable, is modular, has easily available replacement parts, and is durable. Then look at what the options are when you do finally have to part company with it - does the company offer take-back options? Has it been designed for easy disassembly and recycling?

Finding what you are looking for

For techies, reading and comparing manufacturers' information will probably do the trick. But for the rest of us, EPEAT (the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) is there to help, and very easy to use.