Power Use From Our Linux Benchmarking Drops Slightly, Thanks To Cooler Weather

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Power Use From Our Linux Benchmarking Drops Slightly, Thanks To Cooler Weather

Thanks to the weather getting cooler, our power use from the constant open-source Linux benchmarking at Phoronix has dropped slightly over the past month, while it's still well above 2,000 kWh and about four times as high as last year...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=October-15-Electrical-Use

[phantasis]

Could you not put your server room on a time-of-day meter and only run your benchmarks during low cost periods (e.g. at night)?

[gQuigs]

Could you not put your server room on a time-of-day meter and only run your benchmarks during low cost periods (e.g. at night)?

That's only available in certain areas, but that is a good idea. Also, the federal credits for solar/geothermal I believe run out soon. I have a contact in a solar company... happy to reach out for you. PM/Email me a copy of your electric bill and your address.

[Michael]

Could you not put your server room on a time-of-day meter and only run your benchmarks during low cost periods (e.g. at night)?

Phoromatic does have support for timers of test schedules. But here the electrical rate doesn't fluctuate based on time of day / peak periods; it's all flat-rate. So right now balance the workload throughout the entire day as to not overload any circuits nor to run all the systems at once as to distribute the heat output.

[Michael]

That's only available in certain areas, but that is a good idea. Also, the federal credits for solar/geothermal I believe run out soon. I have a contact in a solar company... happy to reach out for you. PM/Email me a copy of your electric bill and your address.

From everything I've read in the US, it's at least $10~20k upfront cost for solar, which is too much at the moment to handle.

[schmidtbag]

I'm not sure if drawing cool air from outside is the best choice, but rather exhausting the hot air into the rest of your house (rather than using whatever heating system you normally use during the winter). During the summer, it'd make sense to exhaust the hot air outside, if you haven't done that already.

My gaming PC involves a 4.5GHz AMD 6-core and a R9 290, and I made a small duct system that sucks the heat straight outside during the summer. Since I'm stuck with electric heat, I often run stuff like BOINC during the winter to help heat up my apartment.

Anyway, considering the vast majority of your hardware is just desktop PC parts that aren't running mission-critical tasks 24/7, I'm not sure you really need to worry about proper cooling that much.

[gQuigs]

From everything I've read in the US, it's at least $10~20k upfront cost for solar, which is too much at the moment to handle.

That is true with the full upfront option (even then say it's 15k, you get 5k back on US taxes next year). It's also possible to have them install it with no cost to you and then have you buy power from them at a below market rate.

But it's also true it might be better to look at insulation/upgrade programs in your state, which would have a better bang for the buck change.

[Passso]

My gaming PC involves a 4.5GHz AMD 6-core and a R9 290, and I made a small duct system that sucks the heat straight outside during the summer. Since I'm stuck with electric heat, I often run stuff like BOINC during the winter to help heat up my apartment.

AMD is the global warming factor #1

[Michael]

That is true with the full upfront option (even then say it's 15k, you get 5k back on US taxes next year). It's also possible to have them install it with no cost to you and then have you buy power from them at a below market rate.

But it's also true it might be better to look at insulation/upgrade programs in your state, which would have a better bang for the buck change.

Already maxed out the insulation and such for home that even before I did my upgrades, home was already ENERGY STAR certified.

[Michael]

I'm not sure if drawing cool air from outside is the best choice, but rather exhausting the hot air into the rest of your house (rather than using whatever heating system you normally use during the winter). During the summer, it'd make sense to exhaust the hot air outside, if you haven't done that already.

I do have a duct now pushing hot air into rest of house for winter, but still isn't moving enough air to make it really cool, so still need to keep window open in basement too.