Electricity bill [was: Re: Leaving a Computer Running ?]

Bart Silverstrim bsilver at chrononomicon.com
Mon Feb 7 05:42:49 PST 2005


On Feb 7, 2005, at 3:34 AM, markzero wrote:

>> * Erik Trulsson [2005-02-05 23:55 +0100]
>>>  Also keep in mind that if you leave the computer running all the 
>>> time
>>>  it will show up on your electricity bill, so if you wish to save 
>>> power
>>>  you should shut down your computer over night.
>>
>> Given that your house needs to be warmed up (a presumption I think is
>> correct for Sweden as you appears to be sending from; it sure does for
>> Norway, I don't know about the OP), it does not matter where that heat
>> comes from. If your other heating is termostatically controlled, then
>> running your computer all night long uses no less electricity than 
>> leaving
>> your heating on. Eventually, all those kWhs ends up as heat. You might
>> just as well use it for something usefull in the way from electric to
>> thermic energy, and not just send your electrons through an electric
>> resistance for nothing (except heat-generation)!
>>
>
> Actually, I've found that five machines, each with two disks, onboard
> graphics and sound, an average 700mhz P3 with a 250w power supply
> haven't really made a dent on my electricity bill. In the summer of
> last year, however, I bought an air conditioner and this added £40
> (roughly $75) to my bill. I see I'm not the only one that thought of
> using the servers AS the heating!

My basement where my Apple G5 runs, during the cold snaps we've 
recently had in PA, was typically ~50-55 degrees Farenheit.  The 
computer keeping itself warm was a bonus.

As for electrical use, I remember I once needed to drain an APC UPS so 
I hooked it up to a Christmas tree in the living room to run it down.  
The load meter on the front, although it's a very very rough indicator 
of load, had the same number of bars for the Xmas tree as it did for 
the old PIII with monitor and some peripherals hooked up to it...



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