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14 comments on CNet: Power could cost more than servers, Google warns

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dan crawford on December 10, 2005 - 1:25pm

The largest growth in consumption for residential and commercial has been in space-cooling (air conditioning). For the US 30% of the overall power generated is used to power space-cooling.

This has the side effect of making cities hotter. Mix that in with global warming and this will make space-cooling to continue to be the largest growth factor for electricity consumption in the years ahead.

Here is an article I wrote detailing this:
Power Struggle: Plugged in to Global Cooling

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Leanan on December 10, 2005 - 7:44pm

The two are not unrelated. Computers throw off a lot of heat, especially if you have a lot of them, and they are more vulnerable to heat than human beings.

My office did not have air-conditioning until we computerized. I bought an air-conditioner for my computer room because I was afraid the heat would burn it out during the summer. Before I got a computer, I lived here 10 years without an air-conditioner.

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“If kindness and comfort are, as I suspect, the results of an energy surplus, then, as the supply contracts, we could be expected to start fighting once again like cats in a sack.”

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