Worth of a watt for power systems in digital loop carrier and other remote locations

The `worth of a watt´ concept deals with the cumulative operating expense associated with consuming one AC watt of power at any point in a central office power processing chain. Here, the worth of a watt concept is extended from central office power systems to power systems in `confined locations´ i.e., small above-ground or below-ground electronic equipment enclosures, that house loop and interoffice electronic equipment. Also considered are changes that have occurred during the period 1978 to 1988 in the present cost and inflation rate for AC power costs, in corporate income tax rates, and in the economic life of power equipment. The net effect of these changes is that the worth of a watt has increased much less than might be expected from the increases in the cost of commercial AC power over the decade. The implications for both designers and users are explored