Exploring the trade-off between computational power and energy efficiency:

Quantum computing is considered a revolutionary technology due to its ability to solve computational problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers. However, quantum computing requires great amounts of energy to run. Therefore, a factor in deciding whether to use quantum computing...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Desdentado, Elena, Calero, Coral, Moraga, María-Ángeles, Serrano, Manuel, García, Félix
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/43266
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2024.112165
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/43266
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Software
Quantum computing
Green software
Green quantum
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Descripción
Sumario:Quantum computing is considered a revolutionary technology due to its ability to solve computational problems that are beyond the capabilities of classical computers. However, quantum computing requires great amounts of energy to run. Therefore, a factor in deciding whether to use quantum computing should be not only the complexity of the problem to be solved, but also the energy required to solve it. This paper presents an empirical study developed with the aim of comparing classical and quantum computing in terms of energy efficiency to determine whether the increased power of quantum computers is offset by their higher energy consumption. To achieve this, a variety of problems with different levels of complexity were tested on both types of computers. Specifically, we used the IBM Quantum computers with a maximum of 5 qubits and an Intel i7, as a classical computer. In addition to this we have also analysed the evolution of the quantum computers, performing measurements on three time periods. Our empirical study showed that there is a variability of results obtained in the three time periods and that quantum computing is not recommended for low-complexity problems, given its high energy consumption, particularly when compared to traditional computing.