(This is the first article in a five-part series.)

It’s no secret: Energy consumption is skyrocketing as IT equipment proliferates across enterprises large and small. In fact, U.S. data centers ate up 61 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2006, at a cost of $4.5 billion, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s approximately twice as much power as they consumed in 2000—and the EPA expects data center energy consumption to double again by 2011.

Statistics like that have many IT professionals investigating “green IT” measures designed to cut power usage and shrink the carbon footprint of their IT operations. Yet only 15 percent of companies with at least 1,000 employees have an overall green IT implementation plan in place, according to an October 2007 survey from Cambridge, Mass.-based analyst firm Forrester Research Inc.

That’s not surprising. Going green can seem daunting, particularly where to begin. Fortunately, there’s significant overlap between going green and the simple common sense of running a tight IT ship. Buying energy-efficient new hardware is the first of five steps your company can take even if it doesn’t have a formal green IT initiative. Newer hardware almost always uses less energy, and there’s a good chance it will also come with energy-management tools that shut off the power automatically after lengthy idle periods.

Savvy IT pros are beginning to appreciate the logic of updating their hardware. “Every four to five years, innovation and improvement in the IT industry aim to deliver more efficient equipment,” observes Laxmi Rao, IT energy coordinator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, Mass. Consider laptops, she notes. “One year, the power supplies are more efficient, the next year, the LCD is better,” says Rao. “We make sure we get the equipment that delivers better [energy] performance.”

Here are further examples of how newer means greener when it comes to hardware:

Servers: The latest servers come with CPUs designed from the ground up to consume less energy. For example, servers using Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors deliver a significant performance boost without increasing power utilization and heat generation. AMD PowerNow! Technology manages power utilization across all four processor cores dynamically, based on shifting application needs. And AMD CoolCore Technology reduces power consumption within each core, cutting power to unused transistors.

Notebooks and Desktops: PowerNow! Technology is also available in AMD Sempron, Turion, and Athlon processors, for optimum power utilization in desktop and mobile computers.

Peripherals: Everyone would like a slick flat-panel display, right? MIT is replacing conventional CRTs with flat-panel LCD monitors. Rao estimates they consume only one-half to one-third as much electricity. Newer backlit LED displays are even more efficient.

But don’t just go on a shopping spree. Figure out what you really need and eliminate what you’re not using. Instead of running a plethora of underutilized printers, for example, buy a smaller number of multifunction printers, which also serve as copiers and fax machines. Complete the green cycle by donating old equipment to charity or giving it to a responsible recycler.

Stan Gibson is a Boston-area technology writer.

Other articles in this series:

Getting started on green IT, part two: If it’s not in use, turn it off

Getting started on green IT, part three: Virtualize, virtualize, virtualize

Getting started on green IT, part four: Straighten out your storage

Getting started on green IT, part five: Consolidate data centers