16 High-Tech Green Giants

• AMD
data center

• Apple
Was first computer manufacturer to completely switch to LCDs from CRTs; all manufacturing sites have been ISO 14001-certified since 2000. Holds Silver certification for notebooks under the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). Offers free recycling of old computers to anyone buying a new Macintosh and has focused on reducing wasteful product packaging.

• Cisco Systems
Implemented programs to save energy, reducing its consumption by 49,000,000 kilowatt hours, or enough power to handle 5,000 homes. Boasts ISO 14001 certification as well as an extensive recycling program for its corporate headquarter sites; offers product take-back and recycling as well.

• EMC
One of the EPA's Climate Leaders, EMC has an on-site wastewater treatment plant that saves its town 3 million gallons of water annually; in December, it introduced the EMC Power Calculator to help partners more accurately gauge data center energy and cooling requirements.

• Hewlett-Packard
Company is on target to recycle 1 billion pounds of hardware and print cartridges by the end of this year; in terms of channel programs, resellers can use HP Financial Services' asset-recovery service, which last year handled disposal and redeployment for 600,000 units of systems and printers in the Americas. The company also is fine-tuning a Dynamic Smart Cooling Solution set for enterprise customers.

• IBM
One of the EPA's Top 25 Green Power partners for the period ended Sept. 22, 2006. From a product standpoint, IBM is especially focused on reverse-engineering products for better future disposal or reuse and on improving energy efficiency for data centers. IBM Asset Recovery Services offers 3 percent fee to referring resellers.

• Intel
Emphasized energy-efficiency improvements for its microprocessor architectures; developed the Ecomark benchmark with Bapco. Also focused on reduction of environmentally problematic materials and improved package design, which has reduced raw materials requirements and shipping densities and cut shipping costs.

NEXT: More Green Giants

• Microsoft
Microsoft is a pioneer in the use of alternative power sources, including solar and hydro energy. Its licensing arm is focused on ways of minimizing the use of CDs and other media. Its Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program focuses on helping companies retire or re-deploy hardware in a more environmentally friendly manner.

• NEC Display Solutions
Among other things, NEC Display is known for trade-in and safe recycling programs that swap out displays and projectors for its own products; it was involved in guidelines for development of two EnergyStar standards and as of this writing, NEC was the sole display-only company to hold multiple Silver certifications under the EPEAT effort, which rates the environmental profile of desktops, notebooks, monitors and integrated systems.

• Oracle
The first software manufacturer to join the EPA's Climate Leaders program, Oracle is also a founding member of the Sustainable Silicon Valley initiative for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Panasonic
The six-time EnergyStar partner of the year is actively pursuing EPEAT Silver certification for its notebooks; Panasonic works closely with PlanITROI to handle asset management and recovery services.

• Samsung
Has adopted a green management philosophy across its entire company from process to product design and life cycle to workplace. Has adopted RoHS directive and as of June 2005 has required suppliers to comply with its eco-partner requirements. Offers product trade-in programs and will adopt policy for toner cartridge trade-ins this quarter.

• Sony
Sony was the first company in Japan to acquire ISO 14001 certification; it is one of two high-tech companies listed as Silver-certified for technology pertaining to the EPEAT notebook category.

• Sun Microsystems
An EPA Climate Leader, Sun provides a variety of tools that solution providers can use to calculate the energy profile of servers, including the SWaP (Space, Watts and Performance) tool. The company has also teamed up with Pacific Gas and Electric to offer an exclusive energy incentive rebate on Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers with CoolThreads technology.

• ViewSonic
Uses recycled plastics for all its CRTs and LCDs and has phased out other hazardous materials. Works with national recycling company AnythingIT to offer Trade In, Trade Up program, through which VARs can earn credits for their customers.

• Xerox
Xerox maintains the Green World Alliance, which has as its goal the recycling of all Xerox cartridges. The company also is an EPA Climate Leader.