The power efficiencies we expect from microchips according to Moore’s law are decreasing, leading to growing power demand from computing technology. However, we are gaining energy efficiency from smart technology in buildings, cities, and elsewhere. That smart-tech generates massive amounts of data, which then demands huge amounts of power. We can and we must build better data infrastructure if we are to maintain a balance between energy and data. In April 1965, Gordon Moore, microchip pioneer and co-founder of Intel, published his famous observation that the number of transistors, in a dense integrated circuit, doubles approximately every two years. This rate of technological advancement has fluctuated over the years but even at its fastest, it was about 18 months, within range of Moore’s calculations. Now, the chip industry admits that its guiding principle is set for a downward trend. This decline is not equal for all chip-makers, however. “Moore’s Law is only for the rich,” […]