randomblock1

Given the difference in server CPU/memory/storage/network/scale, I don’t think it’s possible to get any number with confidence. Maybe you could self host, but that wouldn’t be representative of real email servers. Plus different email providers handle emails differently.

And cloud providers probably automatically scale with load, Gmail probably uses more power during work hours than after.

Also SSR is relatively new and email services are ancient, I’d be surprised if any used it. I’m not even sure if it’s a good idea for email.

Plus it would probably vary with how many emails you have in your inbox…

I just don’t think it’s possible to get an actual number.

Networking is remarkably efficient, and so is decoding images, because processors do it so quickly. For more intensive tasks like video, hardware decoders make them efficient. All email is to the client computer is making a request for data, processing that into a list that can be displayed, and displaying it. I’m pretty sure just having the screen on is orders of magnitude more power hungry.