"Intel has built a lot of capability into the semiconductors to reduce power consumption, but the user has to activate the software to take advantage of this," Wigle said.
Wigle says there are already a couple of freeware tools which can advise users on how to calibrate power management.
Makers could also reduce the "embodied" energy that is required to manufacture the product in the first place, Wigle said.
Climate Savers will be launching its European campaign at CeBIT and is planning similar moves in Asia later this year.
One of its methods will be to invite both consumers and companies to make pledges to cut power use. Pledges are a familiar way of rounding up support in the US, but they may take a little more explaining to Europeans and Asians.
"I could not say I have seen a 100 percent green computer yet," said Ulrike Kallee, a German activist for environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
"But the Green IT campaign was a step in the right direction," Kallee said.
RSS