Initial comments on 'The Internet Begins with Coal'

This memo explores the assumptions in Mark P. Mills' report titled The Internet Begins with Coal that relate to current electricity use "associated with the Internet". We find that Mills has significantly overestimated electricity use, in some cases by more than an order of magnitude. We adjust his estimates to reflect measured data and more accurate assumptions, which reduces Mills' overall estimate of total Internet-related electricity use by about a factor of eight.