The Economist reports from this blog entry of Nicolas Carr, calculating how much energy a second life citizen uses in real life:

Which, annualized, gives us 1,752 kWh. So an avatar consumes 1,752 kWh per year. By comparison, the average human, on a worldwide basis, consumes 2,436 kWh per year. So there you have it: an avatar consumes a bit less energy than a real person, though they’re in the same ballpark.

WOW, that’s a lot.

P.S. On a completely unrelated note: According to a survey more people fear US immigration officials than they fear terrorists.