Creating electronics that run using very little energy is the focus of a new research centre based in Melbourne.
More than 100 researchers from Australia and abroad will collaborate at the hub, being launched at Monash University on Tuesday.
Their aim will be to use cutting-edge materials to make low energy electronics.
Centre director Professor Michael Fuhrer says this comes as technological advances that have for the past 50 years offset the energy needs that come with the world's growing desire for computers - such as chips becoming smaller - are approaching their limits.
"When we exhaust further efficiencies in silicon technology and data-centre management, energy will become the limiting factor for any further computation growth," Prof Fuhrer said.
"Continuing the IT revolution means finding a new electronics technology that uses much less energy."
Information and communication technology currently accounts for at least five per cent of the world's electricity use, Prof Fuhrer said, with most of that consumption hidden from view in factory-sized data centres and server farms.
"Each smartphone is now responsible for burning more electricity than a household fridge," he said.
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