Power server

A Platinum Club mega-uber value reader points me to this interesting study published last week by Dr. Jonathan G. Koomey of Stanford University, which attempts to assess the power consumption of the servers which power our beloved internet. Power consumption by servers worldwide doubled between 2000 and 2005, and the total cost for the world in 2005 (including cooling and associated infrastructure costs) was $7.2bn. Not covered by the findings is the cost of energy consumed by delivering connectivity to end-users, which must certainly be even more staggering. The report notes that power consumption by servers and associated infrastructure in the US in 2005 accounted for 1.2% of the national total, an amount comparable to the total installed base of color television sets in the nation. Also of interest to me is the fact that the cut-off point for the data, 2005, really predates the net video/virtual world explosion we're seeing now, so I would love to know how the current situation differs from the growth trend observed here.