A new study by technology consultants CDW reveals companies are wasting millions of dollars by keeping the rooms that house their computer servers too cool.

The study suggests IT managers have put too much of their cost-cutting emphasis on the price of equipment, and hardly any on reducing energy consumption.

According to the American Society of Health, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, computer equipment can run safely at 80.6°F. In a recent survey of 98 companies, most kept their server rooms at 70°.

Before anyone touches the thermostat, there’s one thing to consider: Overly cool temperatures are required by many equipment warranties.

Solution: When IT execs negotiate with vendors, they need to convince them to modify those parts of warranties.

Answer: Turn off computers when employees leave.

Nearly half of employees who use a computer at work don’t shut down the machine when they leave for the night, according to a recent study of over 2,000 employees by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy.

Across the U.S. and the U.K., businesses waste a total of $2.8 billion a year by powering those unused PCs. In environmental terms, the computers generate the same carbon emissions as approximately 46 million cars.

How should IT go about preventing that waste? Changing users’ attitudes might be difficult. The employees surveyed gave varying reasons as to why they keep their computers turned on, such as “It takes too long,” and “I forget.”

Instead, experts recommend using desktop power management tools to automatically shut down the machines at the end of the day — and keep them on when IT needs them to run overnight (such as to administer updates).

The Post Office, in carrying out green business mandates set by the government, has already seen some very measurable results.

Here’s some of what the USPS did, which can be emulated by a business of any size:

• They changed network printer default settings to a double-sided printing, saving $49,000 a month in supply costs.
• They changed default settings on color printers to black and white, so that users had to deliberately choose to print in color. That meant 700,000 fewer color pages per month and savings of $37,000 per month.
• Webinars and online communications are used as a substitute for some live training and face-to-face meetings to cut down on travel costs.
• Technology is used to reduce the amount of time employees’ computers stayed turned on.
• A new stress on recycling has led to around a million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, plastics, and cans over the course of a year. They generated about $7.5 million in revenue from that recycling.

Other green moves the organization has made:

• The USPS is a major supplier of half a billion envelopes and other mailing containers. These are now 100% recycled matter and free to users.
• The service is encouraging users to buy stamps and send mail from offices (and home), saving extra trips.
• It’s working with both tech companies like HP and Dell to expedite returns of toner cartridges and electronic devices including PCs and printers.

The boring old post office is taking a lead in both going green and generating savings and new revenue. Maybe your company can follow suit.

Aramark, a national food and corporate services company, recently received top honors in Infoworld’s 2009 Green IT awards.

How’d it get the nod? By cutting down on printing-related resources and electricity.

The company decided to rethink its printing strategy at its four main offices, which house a total of 2,000 employees. To achieve its goals, Aramark installed new machines that were far more energy efficient than their predecessors. Also, these printers can all be powered down remotely so the company knows no energy is being wasted during non-work hours.

Also:

• The company reduced personal printers, replacing them with workgroup machines (by far the deed that brought the most employee resistance)
• The machines offer dual-sided printing, a major savings on paper
• IT admins can remotely control default print quality, so less toner is used in printing routine documents or drafts
• New software requires users to enter a PIN before receiving a printout (Secure print), which enhances security and helps IT find out who’s printing the most.
• The overall number of printers and copiers was reduced, and the new machines had higher duty cycles and lower costs per page.

It all took a serious education effort, training users to use double-sided printing, scan-to-email, and secure printing.  They also took pains to explain the business and environmental case for the change.

Has it paid off? Aramark estimates the new strategy is saving $35,000 in printing costs annually. Paper use has been cut by about 200,000 sheets a year, and the company is buying 20% less toner.