Reducing the impact of computing on our planet is not only a hot topic, it's a growing problem that is reaching a boiling point. According to predictions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, without improvements, our power consumption will require the building of 10 additional power plants by 2011. And though most of this increase will come from volume servers, a significant percentage of them will be running the Linux® operating system and other open-source software.

While the computer hardware industry has been making strides in providing capabilities to reduce power consumption, there has not been sufficient focus on enabling these advances in software, especially in the world of open source. LessWatts.org is trying to change that by focusing on key areas and advancements that can slow our unending quest for electricity.