All the talk about efficiency must equal something ÔÇô IT companies have topped some of the largest corporations in the world to be named as leaders in Newsweek's Global 100 2010 Green Ranking list.

And in the US list, Yahoo, which had made headlines with its new data center in Lockport, New York, even came in at number 9.

Newsweek attributed Yahoo's ranking not only on its data center efforts to increase energy efficiency and "purchase energy from renewable sources and locate data centers in cooler climates to reduce AC needs", but its online programmes encouraging users to be more environmentally friendly.

IBM trumped the competition globally, with a score of 100, followed by HP, with a score of 99.33

Newsweek said IBM had made considerable efforts to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, cutting its consumption of electricity and water by 5.1 billion kilowatt hours. It has also helped customers reduce their use of power, through its consulting services, and parts of its business have worked on projects around the world that have reduced emissions using IBM's technology ÔÇô a breadwinner that also has green merits.

HP, on the other hand, received its second place for its green manufacturing technologies and recycling efforts.

Scores are measured with the help of the three environmental research organizations which worked with Newsweed to device an overall green scoring system, looking at an environmental impact score, green policies and performance score and reputation survey score.

They measure both performance in the US and globally.

In the US, technology companies made up a majority of the top 20. Dell was number 1, HP was 2, International Business Machines 3, Intel 5, Sprint Nextel 6, Applied Materials 8, Yahoo 9. Accenture measured in at 11, AMD 12, Cisco systems 13 and Eaton, which works in the power space, 16.

Intel was noted for its efforts to reduce hazardous waste and the use of toxic materials in its products and for its use of renewable energy sources.

Internationally, Deutsche Telekom got a mention, in 7th place, Toshiba 10th, Vodafone 11th, Nokia 14th and Nippon Telegraph &Telephone 16th.