So, did you see Time magazine this week? Accompanying their profile of former Vice President and current environmental prophet Al Gore was a photo showing Mr. Gore in his home office, seated in front of three (admittedly gorgeous) 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays (being on the Board of Directors of Apple Inc. does have its perks). His desk (at least I think there was a desk under there) was piled a foot high with stacks of papers and books.

Seeing this photo reminded me that there are a lot of things we individual computer users can do to save trees, electrons, and, as an added benefit, dollars.

First, let’s talk trees. Paper, actually. Do you print things you don’t need to? Probably. Here’s a great example. A few weeks ago, millions of people purchased Mother’s Day flowers online. I tried ProFlowers this time. My wife used Martha’s Flowers. Anyway, millions of web browsers displayed millions of pages showing receipts for millions of flower transactions. I’m sure millions of people followed the “printer-friendly” links on the pages, and used millions of pieces of paper to print the receipt for their records.

Why? Habit? The need to have some sort of “permanent” record, which might well be thrown away a couple weeks later when the credit card statement arrives? Here’s an alternative. Why not save the receipt web page as a PDF file, stored digitally on the computer?

Macs running OS X make this easy. Anything you can print on a Mac can be “printed” (actually converted and saved) as a PDF file, viewable by any computer with Adobe Reader (formerly known as “Acrobat Reader”) installed. Macs even have a folder within the Documents folder called “Web Receipts” into which these PDF files can be deposited with one-button ease.

Here’s another plus to using this kind of system. The Mac’s powerful “Spotlight” search tool can see inside and catalog the contents of PDF files, making it easy and fast to find, say, any PDF documents with the word “Flowers” in them. Ah-ha! A bumper sticker is born – “Save As PDF, Save A Tree”. Catchy.

Although our computers and other tech gear require electricity, there are several measures we can take to conserve kilowatts (and dollars).

First, there’s sleep. No, not the kind I’m missing burning the midnight oil to meet this article’s deadline. I’m talking about computers going to sleep. No. Not like my wife, who goes to sleep whenever I talk about computers. But, I digress.

Computers come with Control Panels or System Preferences that allow users to select time intervals after which the computer’s display, its hard drive, or the entire computer goes to sleep, saving energy (and, as I said, dollars). For example, according to a recent article in MacWorld magazine, by using just the default Energy Saver settings on my 24-inch iMac I could save around $54 per year. Just by turning off the computer (rather than letting it go to sleep on its own) when I’m not using it for short periods could save me another $15 each year.

That’s right. You math wizards out there have already figured out I’ve saved almost enough for a new iPod shuffle. Sweet.

Finally, recycle. If you take your old iPod into an Apple Retail Store, they’ll recycle it and give you a 10% discount on a new one. They’ll also recycle your old computer and display (yes, even PCs) if you buy a new Mac at either a brick-and-mortar or online Apple Store. You can also donate your old computer to a school or non-profit organization, often for a tax deduction.

Did I mention dollars are green, as well?