Random Fact Of The Day: Yahoo Mail Users Consume More Energy

Do you consider yourself to be a "green" person? Then you're probably not a Yahoo Mail user. According to a new study, people who rely on Yahoo for their email spend $110 more per year on electricity than those who use Gmail. Is that because Yahoo users are more wasteful? Apparently not, says energy software company Opower.

The organization said the reason for this is that Yahoo Mail users are more likely to live in larger homes. That's interesting because you would expect people with bigger homes are more wealthy and thus more technologically inclined. And you would think people who are more technologically inclined would gravitate toward Gmail. But, on the other hand, Gmail users tend to skew younger.

As a result, we can gather from all this that Yahoo Mail users with large houses have extensive legacy relationships and are nervous about transitioning all of that to a new email platform. So what is the point of all this data? It helps to understand exactly what the makeup of email users is. It may seem backward that the people with the most resources are not using the most up-to-date email platform, but when you think about it, it makes sense at the same time.

[via GigaOM]