The energy draw of smartphones and tablets are dwarfing what we traditionally think of as energy hogs in the home, according to a new study. And all those data centers, wireless base stations, and wired networks are largely powered by coal. IEEE Spectrum reports.
A phone -- and other information-communications technologies (ICT) -- plugged into the wall draws a negligible amount of energy. But:
Add in the amount of electricity it takes to move data across networks to deliver a total of, say, an hour of video to your smart phone or tablet each week, and over a year it adds up to more power than two new Energy Star refrigerators consume in a year.
And while electronics are becoming more and more efficient, their efficiency doesn’t offset their explosion around the world.
Some highlights:
Some work is already underway. By 2015, the GreenTouch Consortium plans to make ICT networks 1000 times as efficient as those that were in operation in 2010.
The study [pdf] was sponsored by the U.S. National Mining Association and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
Image: Stevan Sheets via Flickr
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com