Gmail Users Spend $110 Less than Yahoo Mail Users Each Year on Electricity

June 18th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

This is an odd an interesting news item that crossed my desk recently. Apparently, “Yahoo Mail users will spend $110 more this year on electricity,” Opower reports.

“Based on the company’s cutting-edge behavioral science and patent-pending data analytics, Opower found that, on average, Yahoo Mail users consume 939 kilowatt-hours (kWh) more than Gmail users, or about 11% more electricity per year – a sizeable, statistically significant difference in usage.”

Here are some more details from Opower on the data used and what the company found:

By analyzing consumer energy information derived from their work with more than 70 utility companies – including 8 of the 10 largest in the U.S. – and containing data from 40 million homes, Opower looked at the correlation between email address and electricity usage across 2.8 million American households around the country. About 1.15 million of those households are Gmail or Yahoo users, and are spread out across 23 states and several distinct climate zones.

According to Opower, the reason Gmail users consume less energy than those with Yahoo Mail has to do with the users themselves. Opower’s data indicates that Yahoo Mail households are more likely to live in larger residences and also use more electricity per square foot. In contrast, Gmail users tend to live in cities, where dwellings are often more compact and energy-efficient. In addition, Opower found that Gmail users are more likely to sign up for an in-depth analysis of their home energy usage.

Very interesting, and, I have to admit, not all that surprising. Moderating thousands upon thousands of comments, one begins to get a sense for patterns in different types of email accounts.

Of course, while some of the changes needed to bring Yahoo Mail users to the same level as Gmail users are quite large, others are very simple and do-able. Some of the suggestions Opower offers up are “turning off computers at night, getting a programmable thermostat, or upgrading a heating system.”

Of course, averages are averages — some Yahoo Mail users might have already done all of the above, might live in energy-efficient homes, and might beat the average Gmail user in this arena. Basically, everyone should consider the above suggestions and other ways to save energy in their homes and elsewhere.

All images via Opower.

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Tags: GMail, gmail electricity, gmail electricity use, gmail vs yahoo, gmail yahoo, opower, yahoo, yahoo electricity, yahoo mail, yahoo mail electricity use

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Anne

When I read the headline, I first thought that the Google servers were so much more efficient than those of Yahoo, causing its users to use more energy when emailing. But it was not at all like that.
- Anne
  
  more energy –> less energy
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  yeah, that was my first impression as well when i first saw news of the story…