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Internet Uses 9.4% of Electricity In the US

Posted by Zonk on from the that's-it dept.

ribuck writes "Equipment powering the internet accounts for 9.4% of electricity demand in the U.S., and 5.3% of global demand, according to research by David Sarokin at online pay-for-answers service Uclue. Worldwide, that's 868 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The total includes the energy used by desktop computers and monitors (which makes up two-thirds of the total), plus other energy sinks including modems, routers, data processing equipment and cooling equipment."

10 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. where's the derivative factoid by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    about World of Warcraft, a fictitious "country", using 10x more electricity than a real country, Vanuatu?

    i actually just pulled that factoid out of my ass, but i'd bet good money, considering this research on the Internet and power usage, that it is true after all

    Save Vanuatu! Unplug WoW!

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:where's the derivative factoid by rolfwind · · Score: 5, Funny

      i actually just pulled that factoid out of my ass
      Welcome to the Internet, you just became a full fledged member.
  2. 99.9% by SevenHands · · Score: 5, Funny

    and 99.9 percent of this 9.4% is a result of pr0n!

  3. Careful how you count by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Remember the article that more are browsing the web *instead* of watching TV? That would mean that TV power is going to PC's instead. (Except maybe for those who leave both on, and some PC's + monitor take more power than a TV)

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  4. Blame Game by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's Al Gore's fault.

  5. Low Wattage Laptops by lobiusmoop · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is why I think the OLPC project shouldn't be limited to third world countries. These laptops run on only a couple of watts! If more first-world computer users used them for basic surfing instead of 200 watt gaming rigs, much energy/CO2/fossil fuel could be saved I think.

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
  6. Re:Oxygen to the Brain by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    This figures.... doesn't the brain use about 30% of the blood oxygen.

    I fownd if i skip spailing and grammr i cut my brane oxign yusag in haf. i gotta green brane, dood

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  7. But what does it save? by redefinescience · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder how much energy is actually SAVED because of the internet, quick example: email. How much energy is used shipping a letter across the country?

  8. Re:And... by User+956 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So...? What, you want us to turn them all off?

    Yes, as a matter of fact Ted Stevens has introduced a Senate Bill to install a switch in his office, so he can turn off the internet when he's not using it.

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  9. The flip side by femto · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It would also be interesting to know how much energy the Internet saves. For example instead of people flying around they talk on VoIP or have a teleconference. Documents are emailed rather than having to be flown around the world. Music and movies are downloaded rather than people driving to the shops for a disk. Or is the Internet is promoting long distance relationships that otherwise just would not be?

    The numbers do suggest that electronic equipment needs to be more efficient.