Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians

[bananas]

Energy consumption for Second Life avatars.

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2006/12/avatars_consume.php

Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians
December 05, 2006

<snip>

Which, annualized, gives us 1,752 kWh. So an avatar consumes 1,752 kWh per year. By comparison, the average human, on a worldwide basis, consumes 2,436 kWh per year. So there you have it: an avatar consumes a bit less energy than a real person, though they're in the same ballpark.

Now, if we limit the comparison to developed countries, where per-capita energy consumption is 7,702 kWh a year, the avatars appear considerably less energy hungry than the humans. But if we look at developing countries, where per-capita consumption is 1,015 kWh, we find that avatars burn through considerably more electricity than people do.

More narrowly still, the average citizen of Brazil consumes 1,884 kWh, which, given the fact that my avatar estimate was rough and conservative, means that your average Second Life avatar consumes about as much electricity as your average Brazilian.

<snip>

UPDATE: In a comment on this post, Sun's Dave Douglas takes the calculations another step, translating electricity consumption into CO2 emissions. (Carbon dioxide, he notes, "is the most prevalent greenhouse gas from the production of electricity.") He writes: "looking at CO2 production, 1,752 kWH/year per avatar is about 1.17 tons of CO2. That's the equivalent of driving an SUV around 2,300 miles (or a Prius around 4,000)."

Posted by nick at December 5, 2006 07:58 AM

[bananas]

1. Soaking them in oil can reduce energy by half

http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/04/bathtub_computi.php

Bathtub computing

The search for more efficient servers has already brought us trailer park computing. Now it's bringing us bathtub computing. A UK firm with the unfortunate name Very-PC claims that submerging server racks in an oil bath can cut electricity use by up to half. The company plans to introduce the slippery new system next year. Reports New Scientist:

In tests, server racks were immersed in tanks of oil normally used to keep machinery cool. A refrigeration unit positioned below was used to create convection currents that draw heat away from the electronics, which is much more energy efficient than using fans. "Using oil we could chill down to -20ºC, but between 0ºC and 10ºC looks to be best," says Hopton.

He suggests that the extra cost of using oil should be quickly paid back by the increased efficiency. Also, keeping components cooler should reduce the chances of failure, making the machines more reliable, Hopton says, and that more machines can be packed into the same amount of physical space.

A Purdue University cooling expert, quoted by New Scientist, is skeptical of the idea. He believes that if you're going to put your servers in a bathtub, you should use a special dielectric coolant liquid called Fluorinert rather than machine oil.

Posted by nick at 11:18 AM

[deadmessengers]

5. Fluorinert

Flourinert is $500/gallon. I wonder how much of that cooling expert's research funding is paid for by 3M, the manufacturer of Fluorinert.

[Berry Cool]

2. Little Georgie asks:

"--as much electricity as your average brazilian WHAT?" :shrug:

[LynzM]

3. Wait, wait wait.

We have *imaginary* people who consume as much electricity as real people? And we wonder why the earth is getting out of balance?!

[gristy]

4. How much is a brazilian?

bada-bump ;)

[NNadir]

6. In other words, avatars alone consume a huge portion of the solar electricity

generated in the United States.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epmxlfile1_1_a.xls

It looks like about 12% of the electricity generated by solar means goes to maintaining avatars.

I wonder what percentage of the solar electricity generated goes to maintaining websites telling us how solar energy will save the day. 200%??? 2000%???