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Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is a field-coupled computing paradigm. States of a cell change due to mutual interactions of either electrostatic or magnetic fields. Due to their small sizes, power is an important design parameter. In this paper, we derive an upper bound for power loss that will occur with input change, even with the circuit staying at respective ground states before and after the change. This bound is computationally efficient to compute for large QCA circuits since it just requires the knowledge of the before and after ground states due to input change. We categorize power loss in clocked QCA circuits into two types that are commonly used in circuit theory: switching power and leakage power. Leakage power loss is independent of input states and occurs when the clock energy is raised or lowered to depolarize or polarize a cell. Switching power is dependent on input combinations and occurs at …