All righty, those of you who read this blog regularly (thank you, thank you, thank you!) have probably noticed I have a vested interest in Green IT. And, for better or for worse, readers definitely have opinions on this topic.

(A special shout-out to Nintendo for cultivating one of the most DEVOUT fan bases I've ever come across, who did not take very kindly to these posts:

Game Over
Nintendo Is Not a Scapegoat

Be sure to read the comments.)

That said, today I'd like to forge ahead with my green state of mind and recommend to any last-minute shoppers a few choice items that make for good gifts that are also good for the environment.

Starting us off is the Solar Style Solar Charger for Phone and PDA ($27.99). Instead of greedily eating up precious wattage from the oft-taxed power grid, this charger comes with 10 adapters that let users charge mobile phones, smart phones and all kinds of mobile devices, including iPods.

Speaking of iPods, these 45 iPod Nano Protector ($45) cases are not only green, they are super retro-hip, since they are made from recycled cassette tapes.

I am also pretty excited about the Zonbu Zero Emissions PC (starts at $99) or the Zonbu Notebook (starts at $279).

This is top-notch innovative thinking and yet another feather in the cap of Linux users and advocates. The Zonbu desktop and notebook PCs use one-tenth the power of regular PCs because they don't have hard drives.

Yeah, I know, crazy! This is a Linux PC that stores the bulk of its data remotely for $14.95 per month.

Meanwhile, the Kanguru Eco Drive (starts at $95) has the potential to cut your computer's energy consumption by 75 percent.

How does it do it? Well, after 3 seconds of inactivity, the drive goes into idle mode. After 3 minutes, it goes into standby, and after 5, it goes into power-down mode. Not only does this hard drive promise energy efficiency, it stands to increase user productivity! Get to work or get moded!

Juice Bags offers a big-ticket bag with its Solar Messenger Bag ($248), which allows you to charge your gadgets on the go via solar panels embedded in the bag.

It's amazing how many green gadgets are now available. If you're looking to do something different this year, or to begin a gift-giving trend, go green.