Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Good article -- power and the net
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 08:57:54 -0400
Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 07:32:49 -0700 From: rbryce () swbell net Subject: power and the net To: farber () cis upenn edu X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Priority: normal Hi Connie G forwarded me your query re Mark Mills estimate on Internet power usage. You're right, Mills' estimate is way wrong. I'm attaching below a story I did for Interactive Week on this subject last December. best rb URL: http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2665339,00.html Power Struggle By Robert Bryce Special To Interactive Week, Interactive Week December 18, 2000 5:01 AM PT In late September, while on the stump in Michigan, George W. Bush outlined his energy plan for America. More domestic oil drilling was needed, he told the crowd, because the country's energy needs far exceed its current production. We also need more renewable energy and more electric power because, he said, "today the equipment needed to power the Internet consumes 8 percent of all the electricity produced in the United States." Bush isn't the only one to use the 8 percent figure. Over the last 18 months, that estimate - first published in a May 31, 1999, article in Forbes by Peter Huber and Mark Mills - has appeared in reports issued by investment banks, in energy projections issued by natural gas companies, and in numerous magazines and newspapers. But is it, in fact, an accurate reflection of reality present and future? Questions about the Internet and electricity usage gained velocity this fall, after tech guru George Gilder and the Energy Information Administration both weighed in on the topic. In September, Bambi Francisco at CBS' MarketWatch.com reported that Gilder was predicting the Internet would "eventually use as much electricity as the entire U.S. economy does today." In late November, the EIA significantly increased its projections for future electricity usage and named computers as a cause.
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- IP: Good article -- power and the net David Farber (Jun 26)