Word on the street is that back in 1865 a chap called William Stanley Jevons noted that while there had been a number of improvements in coal efficiency in steam engines and the like, instead of reducing consumption the effect was to increase consumption instead.

While it’s not a surefire outcome, there are plenty of parallels like more efficient batteries leading to more overall battery use, washing machines leading to doing more washes rather than less time spent washing, or the ability to recycle some plastics leading to more overall plastic consumption.

This is sometimes know as the rebound effect.

Also see, the fifth fuel: energy efficiency, and save some landfill.

Jevon’s Paradox

Translation: The energy efficiency of computers doubles roughly every 18 months.

In a new twist beyond Moore’s Law, which shows signs of reaching it’s limits, there’s Koomey’s Law. In his own words, the idea is:

“…at a fixed computing load, the amount of battery you need will fall by a factor of two every year and a half.”

Why does this matter? It means we can fit more more computing power into smaller and smaller devices. Which is much of the reason the phone in your pocket is probably more powerful than the EDVAC there in the chart.

Sketchplanations tagged with energy