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Energy saving in telecommunications networks has become a well established topic in the research community. We look at the electrical and optical layers of IP-over-WDM networks, and present a list of evaluation criteria for energy-aware adaptive routing solutions (EA-ARSs) from the perspective of a network operator. Furthermore, we briefly explain the adaptive routing solutions originating from the European Union's TREND and the FP7 Network of Excellence, show saving of energy consumed by line cards in a reference scenario, and use the evaluation criteria to identify the next steps toward introduction of the EA-ARSs into real operation.