license: cc-by-4.0
language:
- en
tags:
- ai
- energy
- internet-traffic
- reproducible-research
pretty_name: Bot Web Traffic Energy Bound
How Much Electricity Does Bot Web Traffic Actually Use?
A transparent order-of-magnitude bound on the electricity used by bot web traffic, and an account of why no single honest figure exists in public data. Two independent methods land on an order of roughly 10 TWh per year while disagreeing by about 5.3 times, and the work corrects a widely-cited figure downward by roughly 15 to 20 times. Every input is published with the parameter set and a script that regenerates the bound.
- Author: NM AI Research (independent analyst)
- ORCID: 0009-0003-4213-7769
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512703
- Source and code: https://github.com/NMAIResearch/bot-energy-bound
Files
bot_energy_inputs.csv(16 rows): the full parameter set with ranges and provenance. Columns:parameter,value_low,value_central,value_high,unit,role,source,source_date,basis.reproduce_v1.2.py: standard-library reproducer that computes the bound from the inputs.paper_v1.2.md: the write-up.LICENSE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Method
Each parameter is given a low, central and high value with its source and date, and the bound is computed two independent ways so the disagreement between them is visible rather than hidden. The result is stated as an order of magnitude, not a false-precision point. Drafting is AI-assisted; the judgement is not.
Citation
NM AI Research. How Much Electricity Does Bot Web Traffic Actually Use? Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20512703 . Licensed CC BY 4.0.