Adding a new set of tools to its IT consulting toolbox, Accenture today is unveiling its Green Technology Suite, three new services that put a green focus on how a company expands, upgrades or optimizes its technology usage.

The suite of programs includes a Data Center Estimator, a Workplace Estimator and the Accenture Green Maturity Model, which together give a holistic look at how a company's IT platform affects its overall carbon footprint.

"We're trying to show the business positives of green -- where you can align your resources to make an impact," explained Rockwell Bonecutter, the head of Accenture's green IT program." More often than not, he added, "the best way to do this is to talk about dollars and cents. So anything we can do to take the green message and show that it is cost effective to do it, it has a positive effect on the ledger, and by the way -- it has a positivie effect on the environment, then that's how we're able to move the ball in the best possible way."

Bonecutter explained that the suite consists of tools Accenture has already developed, but looked at all of those processes through a green lens. The result is that customers will learn not only where they stand on the environmental impact of their IT, but also what changes they can make to achieve an impact while maximizing the effectiveness of their expenditures.

The Green Maturity Model offers and overall assessment of a company's environmental efficiency from IT; it is based on Accenture's Operations Maturity Model, and looks at five key areas of operations to determine the company's overall score. Accenture has posted a free, limited version of the GMM on its website at http://www.accenture.com/gmm.

Additionally, the new suite includes the Data Center Estimator and a Workplace Estimator, both of which evaluate key areas of operations from an energy-use, cost-savings and environmental standpoint, with an eye to helping IT managers explain where the biggest benefits from making changes to core architecture, hardware used by employees, and asset management programs.

The suite came about over the last year and a half, as Accenture realized the growing demand for green IT services, but specifically from companies that are looking at a technology refresh and wanted to get the most overall bang for their buck.

"The amount of business we're seeing in green -- directly attributable to companies wanting to look at their footprint -- has increased significantly year over year," Bonecutter said. "Two to three years ago, there wasn't anything in that space; but now there are all kinds of Fortune 100 companies coming around to this."