UK BOINC Team Forum

Seems University of California is going all energy conscious, with this new page added to the BOINC manual for projects

Energy considerations

UBT - Halifax--lad wrote:Seems University of California is going all energy conscious, with this new page added to the BOINC manual for projects

Energy considerations

This has always been a concern of mine - in the end it boils down to:

1) BOINC is a hobby - as such can you afford the hardware costs and the associated running costs?

2) BOINC does have an environmental impact. Originally, most distributed computing projects relied on the fact that PC's are usually idle and hence this CPU power could be "tapped into" in order to help them.


BOINC has now become a very "competitive" area for crunchers who like to see their efforts rewarded and hence can be "pressurised" into leaving their PC's on all the time (in order to rise up the rankings). Of course the main change over the last couple of years is that CPU's are becoming more efficient and some are now consuming less power than the systems they replaced. Likewise CRT monitors are being replaced by more energy efficient LCD's.

Even so, fossil fuels are being used up in order to keep PC's "on" 24/7 to crunch for BOINC.

Both these issues do need to be impressed on people who want to help projects, who otherwise might not know (or care).

In the end, ALL research costs money - it's down to the individual to decide if they wish to consider these implications.

In may case, I have 7 PC's running 24/7 (which do NOT need to be on 24/7  :oops: ). And I sacrifice other energy usage in order to operate like this, thereby restoring the "balance". But at present, until our wind turbine is installed, BOINC is running on electricity from fossil fuel power stations (and maybe some nuclear).

regards,

Tim

And I can sleep peacefully knowing all my power comes from the wind

Nuclear Power is the one

UBT - Halifax--lad wrote:And I can sleep peacefully knowing all my power comes from the wind

:fart:

UBT - PaulT wrote: :fart:

Paul said it, I just thought it. Sorry Dave.

David Anderson wrote:I added a "maximum CPU usage" preference.
If you set it to 50%, BOINC will use half your CPU time
(one second on, one second off).

This feature will become available with the next version of BOINC and also when the projects update their code

I am afraid whilst I am energy conscious in most things I keep my 'crunching' going 24/7. However i have conducted an energy audit of my entire house and even labelled every device with its consumption in normal running mode and standby mode (which actually I make a point now of avaoiding altogether).

I reckon I save far more electricity by being "generally aware" than I consume by keeping my machine on 24/7.

One thing that I would definitely promote is ditching as many AC/DC converters as you possibly can. They are typically very wasteful and tend to be left on when not in use which is not only a fire hazard but a complete waste of electricity. I have found that a mere 30W solar panel is sufficient to keep all my small DC gadgets amply powered, by charging up portable 12V batteries with a variety of DC voltage outputs.

LED lighting (admittedly expensive at this time) is another great energy saver. My reading light (and I do a lot of reading) consumes so little electricity it doesn't even register on the plug-in consumption meter I bought when I decided to conduct my audit !!

What other ideas and tips have UBT members that they may wish to share?

I don't have tips to share really well I do just the one, switch energy suppliers to juice and keep everything switched off that you don't need to use

Switch the lights off and go to bed!


Rick

UBT - Rick Horn wrote:Switch the lights off and go to bed!


Rick

Yup - a little bit of rumpy-pumpy and a heat exchanger (under the bed) and you'll have enough hot water for a shower .....

And you'll have a "rosy glow" in the morning......


regards,

Tim

Or use a water cooled gas/lpg powered generator and pass the coolant water through a heat exchanger to heat your water for washing and central heating, and while you are generating heat (which is usally the waste product of a generator and can be up to 70% loss) you can supply electricity to yourself and any surpluss can be passed to the National Grid, plus any electricity passed to the grid you are paid for  :P


Or be really naughty and connect a low power pump to your water supply, bolt a generator onto the pump and hey presto free electric, plus a few extra hosepipe bans in the summer  :oops:


Or be a protester/terrorist extremist and spike your entire street with a drug of your choice by fitting a jet washer outlet to your house sink tap and back pressure the water mains  :?


I'll shutup now, I can here them coming  :lol:

UBT - PiezPiedPy wrote:
<snip>
Or be really naughty and connect a low power pump to your water supply, bolt a generator onto the pump and hey presto free electric, plus a few extra hosepipe bans in the summer  :oops:
<snip>

I'll shutup now, I can here them coming  :lol:

Now there's an idea - obviously mains water pressure is driven by some huge pumping station - so that's where the energy goes in.

Just need to get to the mains water pipe and put in a small divertor that has a little genny on it and the flow (coz you need flow !) then feeds the water into some river or stream nearby....result - free electrical power.

Course, I could just plug a cable into a streetlight, but then you'd see the wires. Mains water pipes are usually underground, so not easily spotted.

regards,

Mr Nobody

a tap and a drain would do a few 12v florescents  :lol:


Got a question ere

As far as I know Solar Panels through some sort of crystal stuff produces electricity from all or part of the light spectrum (don't know about it going into i-r or uv) by oscillating the crystals somehow, or if its produced from photons hitting the crystals, anyone know how :?: