Sharing the Cost of Lunch: Energy Apportionment Policies

Energy consumption has become a hot topic in computer and communication technologies pinpointing the need to carefully analyse system efficiency. The energy consumption of a system is determined by the usage patterns of system components and complex interactions between the coexisting entities and resources. Providing transparency of a system's consumption by breaking down the total consumption is vital to evaluate and provide energy-efficient design and operation. In this paper we survey the apportionment problem in different fields such as computer systems, wireless sensor networks, mobile devices and energy-efficient buildings. The challenge lies in how to attribute a share of the total energy consumption to the responsible entities (e.g., applications, processes or users of the system). Our analysis identifies that energy apportionment is a common problem in different fields and reviews five previously applied energy apportionment policies. Also, the work identifies relevant further research.