Most sustainability decisions include some kind of tradeoff. On the one hand, reading magazine or newspaper articles online reduces the use of paper, but increases the amount of electricity consumed, which often requires burning more coal or natural gas. The companies that build the software, chips and servers that run the Web are getting together to reduce the amount of energy that networks consume.

Intel has joined with AMD, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM and Sun Microsystems to collaborate in a non-profit energy-efficiency group called The Green Grid, according to the Oregonian.

For e-commerce, media, or any type of company that requires substantial computer power to store and share data, the cost of electricity is of considerable concern. It's a good signe that some of the most important industry players are going to share technology for managing power consumption. Just as with any type of appliance, powering down servers or networking equipment when it is not needed can substantially lower one's electricity bill. And since Web servers need to keep going 24/7, improvements in servers' energy efficiency can lead to substantial savings.