Pete Foster at The Green IT Review brings our attention to a research paper published last September (sponsored in part, it seems, by Intel and Microsoft): Assessing Trend in the Electrical Efficiency of Computation Over Time (http://download.intel.com/pressroom/pdf/...tertrendsrelease.pdf). Here's a observation that deserves attention:

"The performance of electronic computers has shown remarkable and steady growth over the past 60 years, a finding that is not surprising to anyone with even a passing familiarity with computing technology. In the personal computer era, performance per computer has doubled approximately every 1.5 years, a rate that corresponds with the popular interpretation of Moore’s law. What most observers do not know, however, is that the electrical efficiency of computing (the number of computations that can be completed per kilowatt-hour of electricity) also doubled about every 1.5 years over that period."

The report does mention that computations per kWh growth was greater during the vacuum tube era ... but, as Foster properly notes, significant efficiency's continue to be gained by the inherent nature of technology itself. It's not the only part, but it counts.

Hat tip to Pete Foster and the good folks across the pond at www.thegreenitreview.com.