CPUs with 2,000 MIPS per Watt, Anyone?

Making a living as an IT professional, I always get a terrible sinking feeling right in the midsection when that background hum of automation suddenly becomes quiet. Electrical power breathes life into every display pixel, CPU, and disk drive—and soon will do the same to Ethernet ports delivering power to devices along with data packets. Power demands our consideration in just about every implicit or explicit decision we make; and when we get it wrong, computer systems overheat and fail.