[ale] 0.15c an hour

[Tom Freeman]

On 12/04/2006 06:14:47 PM, Greg Freemyer wrote:
> On 12/4/06, Calvin Harrigan <charriglists at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> > Christopher Fowler wrote:
> > > http://jebediah.brown.googlepages.com/
> > >
> > > That article states that it costs 0.15c and hour to run a
> computer.  Is
> > > that true?
> > >
> > > By my calculations
> > >
> > > 15 pennies * 24 hours * 31 days = 11,160 pennies.
> > > Divide # of pennies by 100 and I get $111 dollars per month.  I
> > > tend to leave my computer  on a24x7 but I do not think I pay 15c
> per
> > > hour to run my computer.
> > >
> > > If that calculation is right then we are ripping off Quality
> Services
> > > because our servers would be using more power than what we are
> paying in
> > > our colo rack.
> > >
> 
> Seems high, but if my calculations are right it is not off by much.
> If you have real numbers you can make this more accurate.
> 
> ===
> I think electricity is about 7 cents per kilowatt hour in GA.
> (Someone have a power bill handy?)

Wrong state (North Carolina), but my residential rate is 8 cents/kwh.  
Which is supposed to be low for the country. I've read (somewhere so  
please don't ask for confirmation because I cann't) the US national  
average is on order of 12 cents/kwh.

> 
> So if a 350 watt PS is only 50% efficient, it is pulling 700watts
> max.
>  So that is .7 kilowatt hours per hour max for the CPU.
> 
> Or .7 * 7cents = 4.9cents / hour max. for the basic computer.
> 
> The reality is that the PS is probably better than 50% efficient and
> the PS is probably not running at max load.  So you could easily be
> at
> 2 or 3 cents an hour for the computer.
> 
> The monitor likely draws about the same, so your at 5 cents an hour
> being a good guess. (But there would not be a monitor at a colo)
> 
> But then if you have to cool it:  Normally takes more electricity to
> cool then it does to heat, so I'm at a little over 10 cents for a
> workstation and 5 cents for headless unit.
> 
> Now in your house / small business during the winter you're typically
> running the heater.  Turns out most electronics is almost 100%
> efficient at producing heat, so whatever it costs to run the computer
> is made up for in reduced heating bills.
> 
> Greg
> --
> Greg Freemyer
> The Norcross Group
> Forensics for the 21st Century
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