3 ms·

The main power consumption of electronics is the embodied energy (energy used to build the device), and the number of devices per person has kept increasing wor

by mrpopo 5y ago

The main power consumption of electronics is the embodied energy (energy used to build the device), and the number of devices per person has kept increasing worldwide (24 per household in the US! https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/01/02/24-electronic-products-per-household-got-recycling/?sh=76b7a4242c2e https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/01/02/24-electroni...)

marcosdumay 5y ago
I bet the sum of those 24 devices still uses less energy than a Pentium IV and a CRT monitor. IoT will take off at some point, and we may see a period when the many dozens of devices it needs use more power than an early 00's PC, but those will be optimized too (if IoT isn't delayed enough that they are born optimized). I imagine there is enough demand for computing to eventually go over the 00's level, but I can't imagine its form.
- mrpopo 5y ago
  Again, in a life cycle analysis, energy use from utilisation is dwarfed by energy used during production. With IoT the number of chips will keep increasing and that's what determines the total energy (carbon) footprint, which is not the same as your electricity bill.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    You have a point to a degree but a big PC+CRT is going to have those same costs and has a lot more mass to require energy during production, even compared to several mobile devices.
  - oh_sigh 5y ago
    Can't exactly conflate energy with carbon though, because manufacturers will use green energy at various stages of the manufacturing process. Just to put numbers on this, according to this article from 2014[0], an iPhone has an embodied energy of 278 kwh, which is about 10 days of energy usage for the average American household. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-energy-in-things/381557/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-e...

3 ms·

The main power consumption of electronics is the embodied energy (energy used to build the device), and the number of devices per person has kept increasing wor

by mrpopo 5y ago

marcosdumay 5y ago
I bet the sum of those 24 devices still uses less energy than a Pentium IV and a CRT monitor. IoT will take off at some point, and we may see a period when the many dozens of devices it needs use more power than an early 00's PC, but those will be optimized too (if IoT isn't delayed enough that they are born optimized). I imagine there is enough demand for computing to eventually go over the 00's level, but I can't imagine its form.
- mrpopo 5y ago
  Again, in a life cycle analysis, energy use from utilisation is dwarfed by energy used during production. With IoT the number of chips will keep increasing and that's what determines the total energy (carbon) footprint, which is not the same as your electricity bill.
  - colechristensen 5y ago
    You have a point to a degree but a big PC+CRT is going to have those same costs and has a lot more mass to require energy during production, even compared to several mobile devices.
  - oh_sigh 5y ago
    Can't exactly conflate energy with carbon though, because manufacturers will use green energy at various stages of the manufacturing process. Just to put numbers on this, according to this article from 2014[0], an iPhone has an embodied energy of 278 kwh, which is about 10 days of energy usage for the average American household. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-energy-in-things/381557/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/the-e...