You've been recycling aluminum cans, turning up your air conditioner temperature and driving 55 mph to conserve gasoline. You give $50 per month to save the Amazon rain forests, and you religiously retweet the sobering melting icecap missives of @algore to all of your Twitter followers.

Even with all of your carbon-killing ways, an environmental aficionado like you can do more to save the planet. According to MyVoIPProvider, switching to VoIP may be yet another way to slow down the progress of climate change.

MyVoIPProvider isn't just saying this because it saves trees by offering electronic billing. The company suggests that VoIP can save trees by preventing the continuing construction of unsightly telephone poles.

Another IP phone provider, TDS Telecommunication, recently posted a YouTube (News - Alert) video of a Wisconsin school district administrator who said that VoIP had eliminated her slapdash collection of sticky notes and notepads by organizing call routing and allowing her to take calls in a more efficient way.

According to the EPA, the adhesive on sticky notes makes them difficult to recycle, so TDS suggests that eliminating sticky notes is yet another way that VoIP may save trees.

Another way VoIP saves paper is by enabling IP faxing. Instead of wasting paper on faxes and cover sheets, businesses can send faxes in the form of e-mailed documents.

VoIP also enables video communications. In many cases, video communications curb the need for business travel, which cuts carbon emissions. Video communications can also facilitate telecommuting. According to a Business to Community study, greenhouse gas emissions could be cut by 53 million metric tons if half of Americans telecommuted part-time.

In addition, businesses that use hosted PBX (News - Alert) no longer have to dedicate a large server to telephony. Multiple branches can share a phone system while consuming less power. Also, by using VoIP analog-to-digital adapters, businesses can save their old analog phones instead of tossing them into landfills.