Many green IT products that carry the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) environmental label have seen sales double in the past year.

In the US, 109 million PCs and laptops that carry the label were sold, with EPEAT qualified products taking a 22 per cent of the global market in 2007, according to findings released by the Green Electronics Council.

According to repetition a report on online publication Business Green, the EPEAT ranking system is regarded as one of the most comprehensive green accreditation schemes operating in the IT industry.

Some 23 mandatory and 28 option criteria of IT products are assessed by the standards.

This includes an examination of a product's energy efficiency, whether or not a take back scheme is included and how easy it is to recycle.

Depending on how many optional criteria are met, the products will then be awarded a gold, silver or bronze rating.

PC Magazine recently reported that NEC's new 19-inch LCD monitor has received an EPEAT silver rating and consumes 38 watts while active and two watts when on standby.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent)