Enterprise companies with enormous power-draining datacenters aren't the only organizations out there feeling the pinch of soaring energy bills and struggling to keep the carbon footprints in check. SMBs are seeking strategies to lower electric bills and become better environmental stewards. SMBs can benefit from sustainable IT practices as much as enterprise companies. Here are six strategies.Enterprise companies with enormous power-draining datacenters aren’t the only organizations out there feeling the pinch of soaring energy bills and struggling to keep the carbon footprints in check. SMBs are seeking strategies to lower electric bills and become better environmental stewards. A recent survey of SMBs, conducted by IBM, found that small businesses are citing energy as the biggest cost increase over the past two years. Meanwhile, 58 percent of SMBs around the world have expressed concern about the environment and 44 percent have put environmental policies in place. The survey found that SMBs are initially turning to IT solutions — rather than, say, investing in solar power or relocating to green buildings — to drive down those energy costs and reduce their impact on the environment. This certainly doesn’t surprise me: I truly believe that IT has the power to make the world a greener place.But what’s a well-intentioned CEO of an SMB — one that lacks the resources of its enterprise brethren — to do to cut those energy bills? Well, there are several strategies. 1. Virtualize Whether you have 1,000 servers or 100 servers, there are gains to be reaped from virtualization. For example, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, as part of a much-needed IT upgrade, used virtualization to consolidate 130 outdated servers to 40 blade servers. Tech companies such as IBM and VMware are keenly aware of the fact that SMBs can reap the benefits of virtualization and are tailoring tools accordingly. 2. Manage PC power better Every PC and monitor left on overnight can cost your company as much as $75 per year in energy bills, according to Energy Star. One alternative is to simply require employees to power down their computers and monitors each night before taking off. (Putting a system in sleep mode is, energy-wise, better than using a screensaver.) There are also products on the market designed to power systems off and on, depending on whether they’re in use or if they require patching. 3. Invest in greener systems When it comes time to refresh your employees’ PCs, shop with care. First, opt for Energy Star-compliant systems. Second, consider deploying notebooks instead of standard desktops. According to HP, the former uses up to 90 percent less energy. Finally, when you purchase monitors, go with LCDs over CRTs. LCDs uses half to two-thirds the energy of CRTs, according to Energy Star, plus they produce less heat. In the datacenter or server room, shop around for energy-efficient machines, which server vendors are pushing. There’s no Energy Star standard for such systems (yet), so you’ll have to do a bit more research. 4. Take an all-in-one approach to printing Rather than buying a separate fax machine, copier, and printer, consider an all-in-one systems, available from companies such as Lexmark, HP, Canon, Xerox, and others. Fewer machines means less energy waste, and that means lower power bills. 5. Reduce paper and ink waste Printer ink and paper costs can add up quickly. Advocate e-mail over paper memos and faxes, and urge employees not to print or copy more than is absolutely necessary. Also, once a document has been printed and is no longer needed, the blank sides of the pages are still perfectly usable. Rather than tossing them into the recycling bin, have employees stack them beside the copier/fax/printer/MFP. They can pop in the sheets as appropriate. 6. Consider telecommuting Depending on your operations, it may be entirely feasible to let employees work at home even once a week. (Laptops help make that all the more possible — see No. 3.) Your employees will no doubt like the perk — and for each day they work from home, you’re not paying for their energy usage. As a bonus, sparing an employee from driving into work also spares the air from unfriendly GHGs.As with any sustainable game plan, you ought not jump into anything willy-nilly. Plan your path carefully, taking time to measure your starting point and your progress. Also, communicating the strategy to employees is a must. Solicit ideas, promote the benefits, and celebrate accomplishments.In the short term, embracing one or more of these green strategies should result in lower costs for your SMB. But there’s an added long-term benefit for fostering greener, more sustainable practices early on in the life of your business: You’ll have a green-minded culture in place as your company expands, and sustainable strategies will play into your future growth. That’s certainly a positive groundwork to lay: Green companies are more efficient and less wasteful — and in turn, more profitable.What advice would you give to SMBs seeking IT strategies to be greener? Post below, or drop me a line at ted_samson@infoworld.com. Ted Samson is a senior analyst at InfoWorld, tracking trends toward greener, more energy-efficient IT. Subscribe to his free weekly Green Tech newsletter. Technology Industry