Ouch! Just got my electric bill

BDRBDR
edited October 2003 in Folding@Home
It's costing me $2.81 a day to run 8 pc's 24/7, and that's over and above the rate I was running this time last year, for a daily rate of $5.76 a day for electricity in total.

I've been running 8 towers for a couple months, but last month's bill was estimated and was artificialy low, so I didn't get the full impact until today.

What it amounts to is that I'll have to turn some of the low producing towers off.

Sorry peeps, but I'll try to concentrate on upgrading the ones I'm leaving running, for best output.

Comments

  • HotrodsunHotrodsun Salem, OR
    edited October 2003
    May I suggest dual processor computers. Twice the production, with a little more power consumption then of a single proc computer.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    BDR

    I would say you REALLY ARE CONTRIBUTING! ;)

    BTW
    Your sig just caught my attention. Thank you for contributing along with a2jfreak. I was wondering who else was making my points go up. :D
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Hotrodsun said
    May I suggest dual processor computers. Twice the production, with a little more power consumption then of a single proc computer.
    Some one please prove me wrong but doesn't only one fold while it leaves the other free for other tasks?
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat said
    Hotrodsun said
    May I suggest dual processor computers. Twice the production, with a little more power consumption then of a single proc computer.
    Some one please prove me wrong but doesn't only one fold while it leaves the other free for other tasks?

    Install 2 instances of f@h. One for each cpu buddy ;)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Mackanz said
    mtgoat said
    Hotrodsun said
    May I suggest dual processor computers. Twice the production, with a little more power consumption then of a single proc computer.
    Some one please prove me wrong but doesn't only one fold while it leaves the other free for other tasks?

    Install 2 instances of f@h. One for each cpu buddy ;)
    Cool! Or like they say sout of the border "Neato Burrito"
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat, I just switched Angel_Heather over to another rig that folds faster, so you should see a little better contribution soon.
    (I think most of it so far has come from a2jfreak)

    Never fear though, I will leave one folding for Heather, no matter what.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Never fear though, I will leave one folding for Heather, no matter what.

    Thank You!!! :thumbsup:
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    BDR, if last months bill was an est and this one was based on actual readings, then the true cost is in between the two.
    This sounds a little high, but $2/day for 8 boxes wouldn't surprize me.
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    True Ed. I kind of factored that in.
    Due the power companies "cost cutting" they only read meters every other month now, so the estimated month is artificialy low and the real reading is artificialy high.

    What bothers me is with winter around the corner the gas rates and usage will go way up too.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    man..thank god im at my campus....im making sure the 5k per year for dorming isnt going to waste...mwahahahha
  • DanGDanG I AM CANADIAN Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    MSN.ca had a thing online a couple of months ago saying that it cost around $60 to keep a pc running 24/7 for the year when apm was enabled, and upto about $90 with a crt monitor running 24/7 and no apm enabled.
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    BDR said
    What bothers me is with winter around the corner the gas rates and usage will go way up too.

    Yea but with 8 folding boxen at your home, you shouldn't need to worry about heating costs :D
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited October 2003
    Probably. I have my main rig (2.3GHz Athlon) folding under her name.

    The electricity thing can be a big pain, especially in the summer months because of all the added heat that the A/C has to cool. With 1 or 2 computers running the extra A/C probably wouldn't even matter, but with 8 full-time folders I'm pretty sure it makes a dent.

    We're hoping to build a new house soon and we're looking into using solar power and other environmentally-friendly materials for building that will help with insulation so that should help me out with the electrical bills in the future. I think the average household generally saves the cost of the envestment in 10 years or less by using solar power. We also want to use rain-water filtration and other things, but I'm wandering off-topic.

    (Hey, who lied and said conservatives aren't concerned about the environment?)
    BDR said
    mtgoat, I just switched Angel_Heather over to another rig that folds faster, so you should see a little better contribution soon.
    (I think most of it so far has come from a2jfreak)
  • CammanCamman NEW! England Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    that seems pretty interesting a2jfreak, I want to hear you waunder off topic! haha, but seriously, that's really cool about the solar power and rain filtration, I've never heard of that before (the rain thing) for regular homes
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    Camman said


    Yea but with 8 folding boxen at your home, you shouldn't need to worry about heating costs :D

    Lol. Right now the furnace is running to heat the house and I have the window open and a fan drawing in cool air in the computer room.
    I just need to duct the hot air from this room to the rest of the house.
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    BDR said
    Camman said


    Yea but with 8 folding boxen at your home, you shouldn't need to worry about heating costs :D

    Lol. Right now the furnace is running to heat the house and I have the window open and a fan drawing in cool air in the computer room.
    I just need to duct the hot air from this room to the rest of the house.

    Just run one pc in every room that needs heating :D
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    You know what's funny? As soon as I saw this thread in the "hot threads" list, I thought "must be something BDR started" ;D
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    Geeky1 said
    You know what's funny? As soon as I saw this thread in the "hot threads" list, I thought "must be something BDR started" ;D

    ;D I'm stirring up the masses. :D
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    Do you know it cost about $140 more per year for gas and electric in Texas than in alaska! I need to move back and start a folding farm in a little cabin.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited October 2003
    You guys realize that you're a big part of the global warming problem, right? ;D;D
  • BDRBDR
    edited October 2003
    So far I've shut down 3 towers. Two of those cpu's didn't have SSE, so it they shouldn't be a huge loss. No. 3 was a Palomino.

    I've decided to use this as a positive move and can use the spare parts to tinker with, add extra drives to other towers, use for my PET mod, try out a dual monitor display (now that I have a spare monitor) on my dual display vid card. Run Linux again.
    See if my supposedely ECS only card reader will work on another mobo.
    Yep, lots of positive things to come from this. :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    What bothers me is with winter around the corner the gas rates and usage will go way up too.

    So Winter Folding ought to be much more economical: 1) electric rates usually fall in the Winter, and 2) with the boxes running, you will need less gas to power the furnace.
  • t1rhinot1rhino Toronto
    edited October 2003
    Leonardo said
    What bothers me is with winter around the corner the gas rates and usage will go way up too.

    So Winter Folding ought to be much more economical: 1) electric rates usually fall in the Winter, and 2) with the boxes running, you will need less gas to power the furnace.

    Simply place 2 computers in each room and turn off the furnance. :D
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited October 2003
    t1rhino said
    Leonardo said
    What bothers me is with winter around the corner the gas rates and usage will go way up too.

    So Winter Folding ought to be much more economical: 1) electric rates usually fall in the Winter, and 2) with the boxes running, you will need less gas to power the furnace.

    Simply place 2 computers in each room and turn off the furnance. :D

    Amazingly enough, I have a small 8'x15' or so room (which I live in :( ) and I have two machines in here folding, and they actually make me sweat when I go to sleep if I don't leave the door open. It'll be blazing hot in my room, and I get a nice blast of cold air when I walk into the hallway (I keep it at like 60 down here, all the time).
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited October 2003
    mtgoat said
    BDR

    I would say you REALLY ARE CONTRIBUTING! ;)

    BTW
    Your sig just caught my attention. Thank you for contributing along with a2jfreak. I was wondering who else was making my points go up. :D

    Nice touch BDR & a2jfreak, very classy. :respect:

    I can certainly understand your decision BDR being a homowner, you have to do what you have to do within your means.

    I have 4 computers running here but luckily don't see the power bills. My landlord knows exactly what I'm doing and has never once said anything about it, let's see that would make it 2 years and 3 months now. :)
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