[extropy-chat] ECON: Chip market responds to high oil prices...

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Mike Linksvayer <ml at gondwanaland.com> wrote:

> Where do you get the idea that the chipmakers are responding to
> high oil prices?  Performance per watt has been the buzz for a few
> years at least due to cooling and battery life problems.  Intel
> just got around to a complete product line revamp around this now.
> If they had been responding to recently higher oil prices I expect
> it would've taken them longer, as they would've started later.
> Besides, oil accounts for only 3% of US electricity generation:
> http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/figes2.html

But its a much larger percentage of HVAC needs. The point is that
Olivetti is hyping its energy saving features, as oil prices have
caused energy conservation to be on peoples minds, and California has
been energy starved for longer than Intel has been focusing on
performance per watt. PCs energy load are generally one of the culprits
of the crisis there a few years ago.

Whether oil actually accounts of electricity generation or not is
immaterial. Public perception is that oil is a big share of their total
energy budget. What is spent on SUV fuel price increases is taken from
somewhere else in consumer household budgets. If one can save $20 a
year on one's PC use (plus HVAC savings), that is a half tank of gas,
which isn't much, but its a start, and en mass, that is money better
spent than using one's PC as a heater.



Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com

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