Earlier quoted context omitted.
Computer prices are only falling when you compare processors with the same speed and monitors with the same resolution. Overall, prices might as well increase if you look at the prices of the last flagship phones or at least remain stable if you look at main memory. It comes down to the [1] Jevons paradox. >In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that technological improvements that increased t…
> PV and Wind fell because they were above the market costs of energy. Once they are below, they will stop falling further As PV and wind fall in cost, they will end up dictating the market price. So, you are technically correct, but otherwise wrong: the current market price is no floor for the cost of PV and wind, any more than (at any point) the cost per unit of computation or storage was the floor on the cost of c…
What do you mean? That the energy bill for computers is bigger than the material bill?
What else but the price of the hardware has determined the price of computers?
>I expect PV to drive the levelized cost of power below $0.01/kWh
For some time, this is possible. But if there is a sea of energy, people will find a way to use it. Then, demand rises and prices will rise again.
Sooner or later, material science, genetics and everything else will simulate everything. Progress will depend on the amount of energy that is spent on those calculations. The cloud will take any energy that it can get. Bitcoin was just the start.
Humans take roughly 2kWh worth of food per day. We are willing to pay about $20 for it. It might as well be that energy prices rise to $10/kWh. Not because PV itself is expensive, but because somebody owns the land where the PV modules are standing.