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January 15, 2026, 9:08 PM EST. Researchers assess the energy cost of solving Boson Sampling, a benchmark for quantum advantage, using a realistic photonic architecture. The study links experimental control, dominant noise and energy use through a Metric-Noise-Resource framework, producing a unit of energy per sample tailored to Boson Sampling. Authors quantify how imperfections in single-photon sources, optics and detectors drive energy expenditure and identify regimes where quantum processors beat classical hardware for the same task. They present a detailed noise and loss budget and compare quantum energy per sample against state-of-the-art classical algorithms. The work suggests a quantum energetic advantage could emerge before full quantum computational advantage, signaling pathways toward more energy-efficient near-term quantum technologies.