I spent the early part of this week in Las Vegas at the third annual IBM Pulse 2010 event -- it was my first time at the event, and even though it was singularly designed to promote the company's Tivoli and Rational software and how they can help create the Smarter Planet, I came away impressed at the scope and depth of the company's initiatives.

In addition to showcasing initiatives around the world that aim to boost efficiency in everything from traffic to sewers, casinos to municipalities, what struck me about the conference is that, unlike most IT events I attend, green IT -- or at the least, green business practices -- was baked in to every event, rather than shunted off to a sparsely attended "green track." You can read my writeup of Pulse 2010 here: "The Smart, Connected Planet is at the Heart of IBM's Pulse 2010."

We've also got a great article this week from Claudia Girrbach, a senior director in Gap's IT department. It's a bit off the beaten path for what we cover, but it is sure to have relevance for anyone who's ever opened a huge box shipped from an IT vendor, only to find it 80 percent full of padding, with just 20 percent product. "How to Work with Your Vendors to Go on a Packaging Diet" offers three simple steps to cutting the waste out of your IT shipments.

This report from Info-Tech highlights nine green IT initiatives that can help small businesses improve efficiency and save costs.

The MIT Energy Conference brings together leaders in the fields of technology, policy, industry, and finance to develop solutions for the tremendous challenges present in today's energy markets.