Cloud and wireless services as set to have a drastic toll on overall energy consumption, with the tech industry vastly underestimating this surge in power use, according to a new study by Melbourne’s Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunications (CEET).
The report – titled The Power of Wireless Cloud - says that between 2012 to 2015 the energy use required to power the cloud and wireless networks will grow up to 460 per cent - the equivalent of putting 4.9 million new cars on the road.
While telecommunication accounts for just 2 per cent of the world’s power consumption, CEET forecast that at the current rate of wireless technology adoption that figure could increase to 10 per cent by 2020 if the issue is ignored.
“The problem is that we’re all accessing cloud services – things like webmail, social networking and virtual applications – over wireless networks,” CEET deputy director and principal research fellow Dr Kerry Hinton said.
“It’s the modern way but wireless is an energy monster, it’s just inherently inefficient.”
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