1. For an electronic architecture with a functional constitution, said functional constitution performing a number of architectural functions characterized by separate stages, a method of deriving a benchmark program for maximum power consumption prior to an implementation of said architecture, said method comprising: modeling a functional model of said architecture; compiling said benchmark program into a corresponding instruction stream; valuating a power weight for each said stage of each said function of each said constituent; running said model in a maximum power consumption mode; and summarizing said power consumption.