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copied!<p>Power efficiency is an entire field in itself. Measuring performance is usually the best way to go (given the same hardware). If different hardware is being compared, then that's a whole 'nother ball game.</p> <p>So given the same hardware, if a software stack can perform better than another software stack, then it means that the better performing software stack will use less power "per request" than the other. If the performance difference is great enough for you to consolidate your servers into less, then it's a even bigger win!</p> <p>There's a lot of other considerations:</p> <p><strong>Data Centers</strong> Consider that servers are housed in data centers that are cooled. Servers generate heat and the heat needs to be removed to protect the hardware. A/C units do not have infinite granularity. Their efficiency usually comes with volume. So if I reduce my number of servers from 2 to 1, I may have saved the power consumption of one server, but probably not much in cooling costs. But if changing my architecture allows me to cut out 100 servers... that's big savings!</p> <p><strong>Hardware and Peripheral Devices</strong> Using the most power efficient SW stack and running it on a Pentium 4 server = stupidity ;) The most energy efficient software cannot make up for inefficient hardware. One interesting lesson here is: "let the hardware guys worry about power". You worry about getting your application to market. When your application can generate revenue, you can always buy the latest 16-core Core 5 hexa-deca CPU and instantly get your energy efficiency ;)</p> <p><strong>Virtualizaton</strong> If your application is low volume, consolidating it into a virtual machine running on multi-core system would probably save you more energy than rewriting it in your most energy efficient SW stack and running it on standalone server.</p> <p><strong>Programmer Time</strong> You need programmers knowledgeable in the "most power efficient" software stack. You must consider if that is the right tools. Programmers use computers to develop the software and the more time they need to develop (if they're constrained to the wrong tools), the more power is consumed. Not to mention you will have to pay them for more hours. This usually overrides any energy consumption concerns because the costs here are magnitudes higher.</p> <p>If your only concern is energy efficiency, yes, use all the tools in the bag to get you there. But most of the time, that is only one small variable in the overall scheme of things, and also the least of your cost. </p>

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