Internet helps Americans save more energy every year

INTERNET HELPS AMERICANS SAVE MORE ENERGY EVERY YEAR
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Mark Clayton]
The rate at which the United States is becoming more energy-efficient has soared since 1995, when the computer-based Internet and communications revolution began soaking into US society. That conclusion ­from a groundbreaking study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) last week ­ stands in sharp contrast to recent concerns that the computer backbone of the Internet was gobbling up huge amounts of energy. Indeed, all America's servers ­ the computers that direct traffic on the Internet ­ and the systems that cool them use about 1.2 percent of the nation's electricity, according to a study last year. That's still a lot of power, comparable to the energy used by color TVs in the US. But it turns out that for every kilowatt-hour of electricity used by information and communications technologies, the US saves at least 10 times that amount, the new ACEEE report found.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0213/p04s01-usgn.html