Enter our contest! Read this post, take two simple actions, and complete a quick survey! Read on for more info.

Part 1 of this series listed the 5 actions we recommend that you take to reduce the power use of your computer. This post (part 2) explains two of those actions in more detail and tells you how to complete these two actions. Parts 3 and 4 will offer more detail about how you can make the other three changes.

Reduce Your Energy Use at No Cost and Save Money Instantly

1.    Set power management on your computer(s)

Light green: Easy Individual Actions

All major operating systems released in the past ten years come with power management built in, but not necessarily turned on. What is power management? It's the ability to set your computer and monitor to automatically go to sleep or shut down after a period of inactivity. Climate Savers Computing are the experts at this and have all the information you should need to accomplish this task. They even have step-by-step guides. We urge you to sign up for CSCI membership either as an individual or affiliate: it's free and it's a way to build momentum for IT energy conservation. They can keep you informed about the latest ways to reduce your IT footprint. They even have a wonderful, searchable list of energy-efficient hardware and software products that help with IT energy reduction.

Welcome to TechSoup GreenTech's Unpower Yourself! campaign. We're having a contest to encourage you to reduce your computer's energy comsumption. Read this post, take two simple actions, complete a quick survey, and you'll be eligible to win!

Global warming is happening because of a buildup of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, most of them produced by power plants that burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Information and communications technology consumes a good deal of electricity, much of which is wasted as heat, consumed by computers and monitors needlessly left on, or used to cool hardware that is not running efficiently.

More than half the electricity used by IT is outside the data center and it is very easy for you to make small changes that will have a significant positive impact on both the environment and your wallet. It's not always easy to get a significant number of individuals to take these easy actions, but we can reach more people with your help.

Here are five things you can do quickly to decrease your IT energy use:

According to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, "Don't use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on [most] modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it's not in use."

Instead turn on the power management features built into your computer. Power management is what allows your monitor to automatically turn off or puts your computer to sleep after a period of inactivity. You can find step-by-step instructions for most computers at Climate Savers Computing. Look in the right hand column to find the operating system that you are using.

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In these tough economic times, there are a few relatively easy steps you can take to reduce waste in your IT systems. These measures will not only make your systems more efficient; they'll also save money and reduce your impact on the environment.

Why is it important to reduce your computer power use? Power plants are the largest source of CO2 emissions in the US, creating approximately 40% of emissions. Of course computers get their power from the power grid, but did you know that computers waste nearly half the energy they pull from the wall as heat?

Starting this month, most new PCs will have Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system on them. Windows 7 is much more advanced in power conservation than its predecessors, both for end users and for IT administrators. The new operating system makes it easier both to reduce power consumption and to minimize hardware obsolescence.

For those who want to try the software, TechSoup already carries Windows 7 upgrades for nonprofits and libraries; even those that have already made a Microsoft request this year can order.

There are dozens if not hundreds of affordable, reliable, high-quality, green web hosts in the market today. Choose one to host your website. Here are some third-party lists of green web hosts:

• b2evolution
• TreeHugger
• WebHostingReport.com
• There is even a Twitter account that simply lists green web hosts.

When selecting a provider, consider these items:

We had such a positive response to my cloud computing blog post, I thought I would post a brief follow-up. Check out this article where Chris Thorman, who blogs about electronic medical records at Software Advice, quantifies the "green benefits" of using software-as-a-service (SaaS) in a small office.

Do you have thoughts you would like to share about the green benefits of SaaS? Please share them in our community forums.

Roughstock Studios' guide Keeping It Real Green: How to Market Your Efforts in an Age of Greenwashing will help you through the basics of responsible green marketing. It is mostly targeted at for-profit companies, but has some valuable tips that nonprofits and libraries should keep in mind. "Authentic and open communication is the best way to differentiate yourself from the greenwashing crowd."

As we approach the holiday fundraising season, think of how you can communicate your greening efforts to your board, your donors, and your clients.

Yahoo! Green posted a great list of free and green iPhone applications a couple of weeks back. Check them out to make sure that your cool new phone isn't making your carbon footprint even worse. See the top 10 Free and green iPhone applications from Huddler's Green Home Blog that's posted now on Yahoo! Green.

In my opinion, web conferencing is one of the easiest ways to be greener with technology. Think about it. If you have a meeting with 10 people who would normally drive 20 miles each to get to a meeting or worse yet, fly to a training… how much CO2 is being saved? Also, if you had the meeting in person, how many copies of your slides would you print out?

Expecting all of the people in your office or patrons in your library to change their behavior because it is the "right thing to do" will only lead to disappointment. I suspect that we all care about the environment. Most people want to be less wasteful, but sometimes it is difficult to remember or more time consuming to be green. And with so much on our plates, it is easy to fall back on bad habits.

So, the key to some green success may lie in making changes that don't require others to do anything. Your whole office can be greener by implementing a few small changes that people don't have to adopt because they'll be automatic. Here are some examples: