Comments on: Improved Computer Performance Translates into Greener Computing Overall

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:43:00 +0000

I admit that computer power demand has been increasing, but, what the article says about new computers being able to handle greater work loads at a much higher efficiency is technically correct. I read a little about Parkinson’s law. Thank you for pointing out what you did. By the way, I did not say that computers have been replaced by fewer ones, but, in the scenario that I mentioned, it can be done, assuming that the users are not just another example of Parkinson’s law.

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:38:00 +0000

I know that computing power demand has been increasing, but, we are referring to distributed computing systems. There are many distributed server systems that are not exploding in size like many others are. As a matter of fact, the organizations doing this would have to grow in popularity to increase server power demand, and this is not the case. Many of them are relying on old computers and they could handle the same server load with less computers

My main point is that power demand grows with or without these fast computer efficiency improvements we have been seeing. Be thankful for these improvements or overall power consumption would explode even more if that wasn’t the case. You’re being pessimistic. People and organizations around the world (especially in developed countries) are still adopting computers for the first time. If computer performance didn’t increase so much, they would be using far more computers than would be needed now for the same tasks because traditional computers simply cannot do as much.

By: Nikodean1

Nikodean1 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Did you work with distributed computing systems?

I made it clear in this post that it is specifically about distributed computing for server and supercomputer systems. Yes, I know that computing power demand has been increasing, but, please remember that if we stuck to the old computers, they would not be able to handle that increased work load, and, in a case where surplus computers were used in the past to compensate for increasing power demand, they would end up wasting more energy than modern ones do. Also, imagine how much more energy would be used if old computers were used to do the same job.

Far more would be needed. My point is that improved computer performance has facilitated all of this, even though power demand increases, computer improvements compensate for this. It is just technological advancement. The demand of computer power from server networks does not automatically blow up to match that of modern computers every time new ones are increased.

You also failed to realize that this post specifically pertains to improved computer performance, not “how” to improve computing efficiency.

By: Goaway

Goaway — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:12:00 +0000

This posting is very ill informed.

Yes – computing efficiency is always improving, but this is more than offset by hugely increased consumption.

Yes – there is progress and awareness on power issues – but these are slow incremental changes..

By: Jonesey

Jonesey — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 18:07:00 +0000

Where is the data behind these assertions? I worked in IT for 15 years, and I *never* saw two computers replaced by one computer. The author of this post should look up Parkinson’s Law, which applies to computers more than to just about anything else.

Increased computing power (processor speed, hard drive space, network bandwidth) has so far led inexorably to increased use of that power to do more stuff (process more data that was going unprocessed before, storing more data, transferring more stuff over the network), not to do the same amount of stuff with fewer computers or other related hardware.

There are opportunities for saving energy in the IT field, but this post does not explore them.