Jonathan Koomey

4 Dec 2011 • 1 min read

An example of increasing returns to scale in photovoltaic adoption

Climate Progress points to a Yale University study on adoption of photovoltaics (PVs) in residences, in which the time lag between installations falls as the number of installations increases. The authors call this a “peer” effect, in which a greater concentration of PV panels makes it even more likely that

1 Dec 2011 • 1 min read

NY Times.com article yesterday on the deluge of data from DNA sequencing

The NY Times.com article yesterday on the deluge of data from DNA sequencing raised a a couple of interesting issues for me. Here’s one important item I noticed: “The cost of sequencing a human genome — all three billion bases of DNA in a set of human chromosomes — plunged

30 Sep 2011 • 1 min read

A new radio interview on trends in the energy efficiency of computing

The Canadian Broadcasting Company just posted my interview for their “Spark” radio show, which is “an ongoing conversation about technology and culture, hosted by Nora Young”. It talks about our work on trends in the energy efficiency of computing over the past six decades, which I wrote about here and

29 Sep 2011 • 1 min read

My interview on Colorado Public Radio about data centers just aired

This interview followed a news piece reporting on why many companies are considering building data centers in Colorado Springs. The interviewer asked some good questions and the discussion illuminates some important aspects of data centers and electricity use. It’s a good non-technical introduction to these issues. Listen to

12 Sep 2011 • 2 min read

Technology Review reported today on our computing efficiency trends analysis

An article on our computing efficiency trends paper just came out in Technology Review today at noon ET. Here’s the headline, subhead, and first couple of paragraphs: “A New and Improved Moore’s Law: Under "Koomey’s law,” it’s efficiency, not power, that doubles every year and

9 Sep 2011 • 1 min read

My podcast interview with Allyson Klein of Intel about data center electricity use

My interview on Intel’s Chip Chat was just posted. It’s about 7 minutes long, and we talked about my recent study on electricity used by data centers. I think it’s a good introduction to the topic, so please forward to interested colleagues as you see fit. Here’

9 Sep 2011 • 1 min read

Google's announcements this week on efficiency, electricity use, and carbon emissions

This week Google announced more details on their efficiency, electricity use, and carbon emissions. This is a big deal because it will give much of the rest of the industry efficiency targets to which they can aspire. Most of the other cloud computing companies have figured out clever tricks to

31 Aug 2011 • 1 min read

NYT op-ed linking saving money to adopting cloud computing

Vivek Kundra, formerly the Chief Information Officer in the Obama Administration, argued today in a NYT op-ed that the economic benefits of cloud computing for government agencies will encourage more and more of them to adopt this innovation instead of running their own IT facilities (except in special cases)

24 Aug 2011 • 4 min read

CBS news study on the national debt shows appalling innumeracy

TPM DC reports on a CBS news study that made the following claims: “The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Mr. Obama took office. The latest calculation from Treasury shows the debt has now hit $14.639 trillion. It’s the most rapid increase in the debt under

22 Aug 2011 • 1 min read

Statistical Abstract of the US on the chopping block!

This is an outrage to data lovers everywhere: The Statistical Abstract of the US (as well as other compendia of statistics created by the census department) is on the chopping block and will be eliminated after the 2012 edition is published. Robert J. Samuelson, economics columnist for the Washington Post,

10 Aug 2011 • 3 min read

Personal experience with LED downlights in our new house

A NY Times article appeared today on the effect of the new lighting efficiency regulations and it describes the complexity facing consumers as new technologies enter the market. What this article first made me realize was that the advent of the new efficiency standards is a real world example of

31 Jul 2011 • 1 min read

My new study of data center electricity use in 2010

I just released my new study on data center electricity use in 2010. I did the research as an exclusive for the New York Times, and John Markoff at the Times wrote an article on it that will appear in the print paper August 1, 2011. You can download the

24 Jul 2011 • 3 min read

Four reasons why cloud computing is more efficient

There have been a few recent analyses showing that cloud computing has significant efficiency and cost advantages. The most recent one with which I am directly familiar was conducted by Jon Taylor’s team at WSP Environment & Energy for salesforce.com, and it showed per transaction emissions reductions averaging

13 Jul 2011 • 1 min read

NYT blog post on experts and the climate change consensus

Gary Gutting just posted a well-reasoned article about how to think about the expert consensus in the climate debate. He begins by noting that logical claims based on authority only have standing if there is a recognized means of determining who is an expert and who isn’t (see

10 Jul 2011 • 1 min read

World bank database is a treasure trove for ecological entrepreneurs

The New York Times reports that the World Bank has released huge amounts of its previously proprietary data to the general public. The Bank talks about it in a news release here and on its data page here. The key data are in the form of indicators of development and