According to a survey done by the U.S. Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) owners who load their entire iPad tablet every two days will spend only $ 1.36, about the price of a coffee at the bar, the electricity needed for each years to power the device,
The analysis shows that each model of iPad consumes less than 12 kWh of electricity in the course of a year, on the basis of a full charge every two days. To get a better idea just to make the comparison with a 42-inch plasma television that consumes 358 kWh of electricity per year. EPRI has conducted the analysis in its laboratories in Knoxville, Tennessee, and of course the costs vary depending on the area where the consumer and the price of electricity in his home region.
The evaluation was conducted to determine the load requirements – the amount of energy needed to operate the devices – the increasingly popular iPad. According to Apple, in fact, all over the world have purchased 67 million iPad devices.
EPRI’s calculations show that the average energy used by all iPads in the market is about 590 gigawatt hours (GWh). In a scenario where the number of iPads were to triple over the next two years, the energy required would be almost the equivalent of two power plants of 250 megawatts (MW) operating at a utilization rate of 50 percent. A quadrupling of sales in two years would need the energy generated by three 250-MW power plants.
“As information technology continues to change quickly see important implications for the consumption of energy,” said Mark McGranaghan, vice president of power delivery and use of EPRI Power Delivery and Utilization. “These findings raise important questions about how the transition from dependency desktop aa mobile handheld devices will change the consumption of energy and electricity requirements for the information age. Less than a penny per recharge these results bring a new meaning to the motto, ‘A penny for your thoughts.’ “
McGranaghan also stressed that the changes in battery technology and the characteristics of the technology will affect energy demand. “Our measurements show that the new iPads consume about 65 percent more per year of electricity. What remains to be seen is how to better batteries and better features will affect the overall energy consumption by consumers as a whole. “
The analysis shows that the EPRI iPhone 3G consumes 2.2 kWh of electric energy every year, which translates into a power cost of $ 0.25 each year.
Other products that have been included in the analysis were the laptops that consume 72.3 kWh of electricity annually at a cost $ 8.31, and 60W CFL bulbs, which consume about 14 kWh of electricity at a cost of $ 1.61 a year.
