[Pc_Support] Re: Reducing Electricity Costs -- bulbs first and foremost ...

[Bryan J. Smith]

Jason Boxman <jasonb at edseek.com> wrote:
> Well, I do turn it off when I'm not watching it and there is
> anyone else around so there's no risk of it being on unattended.
> I rarely use it more than an hour a night anyway.

I'm the same way, although between my wife and I, it's on maybe 3-4
hours/evening total.

> Yeah, I tried that at my last place, but I rarely have _any_
> lights on, so the savings wasn't immediately detectable.  I'm
> one of those light police that turn off every single light that
> isn't being used.

My wife and I do a bit of work off-computer, so we need 100-200W
illumination on a regular basis.  Whether it's the 100W in our
bedrooms, the 3x60W cluster in our living room or bedroom, etc... 
Going down to 23W (100W) or 3x13W (3x60W) made a good $10-20/month
difference.

> The nice thing about CFB that I've heard is there isn't much start
> up cost, so it's pretty 'free' to turn them on and off liberally.

Most lights today shouldn't have much of a startup cost.

> Not having to replace bulbs all the time was nice, too, but
> also not my primary goal.  (Although how much are those
> incandescent bulbs per unit anyway.  I haven't replaced
> one in so long, I forgot about that cost.)

The cost is about equal overall.  I just got tired of replacing them
regularly.  I haven't had to replace an CFB yet, except one I broke.

> As you can see, few, if any places can accept traditional bulbs
> or CFBs.

Well, my house was built in 1987, so there's plenty of traditional
sockets.  Plus any fixtures I've put in take the traditional sockets
as well.

> I'm also a cold whore, so I nearly never use the heater in the
> winter in Florida.  It routinely hovers around 60-70F and it
> doesn't bother me.

I'm the same, although I try to keep it above 65F so I don't go
losing my foundation (typically below 55F).

> Now, during the summer my CHA gets a real workout.  I usually set
> the 'stat at around 75-77, at least at the old place.  I don't know
> how well air circulates at my new place.

I used to set it at 75-77F, but with the hurricanes in 2004 taking
off part of my roof, that was a mold magnet.  I immediately killed 2
birds with 1 stone by getting a dehumidfier.  I keep it at 30%
humidity (it was easily 65-75% before), which means I can leave my
house at 80F and it feels like 76F (all while still not being a
static electicity issue).  Even though my roof has been replaced, I
find that I don't have nearly as much mold that grows in the
bathrooms or kitchen between cleanings as a result.

My house has the original A/C and I'm probably going replace it
within the next year or two.  I'm definitely getting one with a
dehumidifier built-in -- it's well worth the cost.

> It has a pretty modern CHAunit that I'm told is pretty efficient,
> so I might get off easy.

The original A/C unit I have is fairly efficient for a 1987 model
when I bought the house in 1997.  But it's eventually going to give.

> One thing's for sure.  My five boxes sure put off a ton of BTUs.

My wife and I have our MicroATX cubes with sub-50W LCDs.  My system
is a 31-55W Athlon 64 3200+, although hers is an older Athlon
XP2600+.  Probably the kickers in our systems are the nVidia GeForce
7800GTX and 6800GT, respectively.  But they seem to work fine on
300-400W PSes, and we take the down regularly.

Firewall is an old Pentium MMX 166MHz in a NLX form-factor that
probably doesn't use 100W.  Have really no need to change that, other
than to maybe put in redundant disks.

My main server is a dual P3 750MHz ServerWorks IIILE with six (6)
80GB Maxtor/WD drives on a 3Ware Escalade 7800 currently.  That might
be temporarily replaced, still working on my plans.  I just haven't
had time.

I still have that dual-Athlon MP2400+ system, it just sits unused.  I
also have seven (7) Seagate Baracuda ATA 7200.7 200GB drives just
sitting around.  Plus I also have that NetCell SR5000 card (64-bit,
66MHz, 5-port PATA w/128MB SDRAM).

Probably my biggest power guzzler is a newly acquired Dell PowerEdge
6300 (old 4x Xeon 550MHz, i450NX chipset, 6xLVD-SCSI, 3x redundant
PS) that I'm thinking of using temporarily when I reconfigure my
server.  Just haven't had time, but I wanted to grab it when it was
out there on Craigslist -- especially since I have several Seagate
50GB LVD SCSI SCA disks that can be used in it.
 
> You can seriously feel the difference in temperature, which the
> A/C has to eventually cool down to a reasonable level for me.

I have no such issues with my MicroATX boxen, and not even the P3
server.  The dual-Athlon MP is a different story and that old
PowerEdge 6300 is definitely a heat incubator.

> I guess I could replace everything with lower power stuff,
> but as Derek mentioned, that's a game of numbers and a potential
> loser.

Other than video card, I'm glad I did.  My MicroATX cubes are so
quiet and fairly low-heat, plus I can place them anywhere without
worry about space.

> When I do buy new stuff, I'll certainly keep an eye on power
> efficiency, but I won't upgrade just to chase potential savings.
> On that note, how bad does it hurt to have PSUs that have lower
> efficiency ratings.  What's that mean, anyway?  For example the
> ones I have now have something like 70% or 75% efficiency.

It can make a little difference.  The Seasonic S12 I'm using in my
system is over 80% efficient, and I'm sure I'm only using half of its
500W rating.  It doesn't get very warm at all.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith     Professional, Technical Annoyance
b.j.smith at ieee.org      http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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*** Speed doesn't kill, difference in speed does ***