All of our electronic gadgets, whether they are as large as a 27″ or small iMac as an iPod nano, need electricity to work. The Electric Power Research Institute has published a study dedicated to the power and electrical costs of the iPad.
In this case, it is the amount that makes the difference with a total annual consumption of 590 gigawatts of electricity.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted its studies at the Knoxville, Tennessee laboratory, research has shown that an iPad consumes less than 12 kWh of electricity per year based on a full charge cycle every day. Consumption is minimal, especially if compared to a Plasma TV 42″ that consumes 358 kWh of electricity per year.
In the United States, 365 full charge cycles will account for the $1.36 home budget. In Italy, the actual cost would vary depending on the local utility cost, and the hourly tariff per kWh consumed. EPRI did the same study for the iPhone 3G and found it consumes only 2.2 kWh of electricity per year, which amounted to $0.25 a year.
Obviously, there is more than one single iPad and iPhone on the planet! The global impact of the iPad is estimated at around 590 gigawatts (GWh) annually. Over the next two years, the number of iPad sold will have to be tripled, so the energy consumed by the iPads, iPad would be equivalent to two 250 megawatts power plants operating at a 50% utilization rate. A quadruplicate of iPad sales would require electricity from three 250 MW power plants.
There is worse. Do not think that your iPad is a hungry pig of electricity! The single unit employs only 12 kWh of energy per year and if compared to a laptop computer, the scale is in favor of the tablet: EPRI estimates that a laptop consumes 72.3 kWh of electricity annually for an average cost of $8.31. An energy impact six times higher than your iPad!
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