IBM is launching a processor that runs twice as fast as its predecessor but uses no extra energy, as part of attempts to position itself as the IT industry’s green evangelist.

The move follows last week’s unveiling of the firm’s $1bn (£500m) investment in environmentally-friendly hardware products, called Project Big Green.

T-Systems, the business customer branch of Deutsche Telekom, is an early adopter of IBM’s green processor. The main benefit is reduced electricity costs, says T-Systems head of systems Stefan Bucher.

‘Power is an increasingly large proportion of our data centre costs and so consolidating our servers is a must,’ said Bucher.

‘It is now key to our success to drive down IT costs so we have to operate those data centres on less power,’ he said.

Environmental concerns are starting to rise up business agendas, but are yet to hold real sway, according to figures from analyst Forrester Research.

The majority of large companies have yet to build green IT requirements into how they buy and use technology, says the survey published last week.

And only 15 per cent have a high level of awareness of vendors’ green initiatives – most say they hear little or nothing from top-tier suppliers about environmentally-friendly options.

But the majority of companies say they expect carbon footprint considerations to affect their purchasing decisions in the future. IBM’s initiatives are attempts to capture the nascent market, says Forrester vice president Christopher Mines.

‘Technology suppliers today will find increasingly receptive audiences for green evangelism,’ he said. ‘Slowly, that receptivity will translate into action on the part of enterprise IT organisations.’

The focus on technology adoption according to purely business concerns may also change.

‘In an era of increasing scrutiny by the media, shareholders, customers and regulators, companies have put increased emphasis on becoming better corporate citizens,’ said Mines.

Product suppliers are also trying to get ahead of the green regulation wave rather than risk being perceived as trailing in this arena.

The UK government is backing plans to extend the US Energy Star regulation which benchmarks the energy use of hardware products.