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Called the 'Climate Savers Computing Initiative', the initiative will set new efficiency goals for computers and software tools that manage power consumption. Computer makers Dell, HP, IBM and Lenovo have already singed up, as have Microsoft, the US Environmental Protection Agency and more than 25 environmental groups, companies and universities.

The programme comes at a time when Silicon Valley has made clean technology a priority as it seeks to play a greater role in reducing the harmful effects of climate change attributed to global warming.

Google co-founders Larry Page (pictured, at the launch event) and Sergei Brin have thrown capital behind numerous environmentally friendly ventures, including the installation of one of the largest solar energy systems to power their sprawling headquarters.

The program requires a 90 per cent efficiency standard for power supplies, said Urs Holzle, senior vice president of operations at Google.

More efficient computing could trim the use of electricity that now is being wasted as heat, which

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in turn, especially in large server centres, requires more power for air conditioning.

'Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power and the average server wastes one-third of its power,' Holzle said.

A 90 per cent standard would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons a year and save more than $5.5 billion in energy costs, he said at a meeting at Google's headquarters in Mountain View.

The program also includes the World Wildlife Fund, which licensed the initiative from its WWF Climate Savers program, and California utility PG&E, which offers rebate programs for energy savings products.

The climate program will follow the EPA's Energy Star guidelines for energy efficiencies in computers, home appliances and other devices this year to introduce the initiative.

Energy Star standards currently require that PC computer power supplies hit at least 80 per cent efficiency and that would rise to a minimum 90 per cent by 2010 under the new climate initiative.

Higher efficiency will raise the price of a personal computer by $20 and a server by $30, said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, adding that more efficient systems would pay for themselves in lower energy costs.

Shipments of personal computers should rise 12.2 per cent this year to 256.7 million as customers buy more laptop PCs, market researcher IDC said in a report, increasing its forecast from an earlier 11.1 per cent.

See also - Comment: Too much hot air over green PCs