Currently, the top driver for implementing a green IT strategy is reducing energy expenses, but assessing how well an organization is doing in that area requires the ability to measure it, said Maggie Davis, worldwide environmental lead with Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard Co.

"Metrics are going to allow IT managers and project leads to deliver the proof that initiatives are being successful and have a positive impact," said Davis.

Davis was on a cross-Canada road show to help businesses develop what they're calling a Green IT Action Plan, as part of Hewlett-Packard's Eco Solutions program for maintaining an environmentally responsible IT company and helping customers do the same through energy-efficient products and operations, resource conservation and end-of-life programs.

Enterprises and the public sector are expressing interest in being green in regards to how they print documents, use energy and recycle, said Davis. Specifically, many of them consider paper conservation as the ideal starting point because "it's really an easy low-hanging fruit." An average office prints 10,000 sheets of paper per worker per year, noted Davis.

But whatever the green tactics, be they printing less and consistently recycling cartridges, Davis emphasized that these approaches should change the business processes that employees habitually follow. For instance, if a process requires printing and copying documents, putting them in an envelope and sending them off somewhere, a better way may be to scan and e-mail them to the intended recipients. "It eliminates that paper step and shortens the time it takes to get the process done in the first place," said Davis.