Re: What do I need to conserve power on my old Linux box?

ANTant@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
$ /sbin/apcaccess status
APC : 001,035,0858
DATE : Wed Nov 01 06:52:32 PST 2006
HOSTNAME : MyBox
RELEASE : 3.12.4
VERSION : 3.12.4 (19 August 2006) debian
UPSNAME : MyBox
CABLE : USB Cable
MODEL : Back-UPS RS 1500

OK, this model is capable of supplying 865 Watts according to the manufacturer's specifications.

It better. ;) I only had it for a few months.


UPSMODE : Stand Alone
STARTTIME: Mon Oct 02 15:53:33 PDT 2006
STATUS : ONLINE LINEV : 114.0 Volts
LOADPCT : 39.0 Percent Load Capacity

You're at 39% of 865 Watts, or about 338 Watts. Multiply that by 24 hours a day, 30 days in a month, divide by 1000 and it seems your computer is using 243.4 kWh in a month. (Assuming the above is an "average" load on your UPS.) Check your last electricity bill to see how much you pay per kWh and you'll know exactly how much your computer is costing you per month. AFAICT, about 10 cents per kWh is a reasonable estimate in North America, so I'd guess that running your computer 24/7 is costing you less than $25/month. That's a pretty small savings compared to your overall bill, even if you got rid of the computer entirely.

Ah, thanks! I thought it would be way more than that. If it makes a different, the power
company is Southern California Edison (SCE), not Department of Water and Power (DWP) in east
of Los Angeles, CA.

It could still cost more than that...the above was just a best-guess estimate. I took a quick look at the SCE website but couldn't find any definitive rate information, just a lot of complex rate tiers. So your actual cost could be more or less than that. (Good luck deciphering your electric bill, though! If it's as hard to follow as the SCE website, you may never know!)

Around here (province of Ontario in Canada), residential electricity
rates are regulated at 5.5 to 6.4 cents per kWh. So your equipment could cost me as much as $15.58 CAD (approx. $14 USD) per month.

IOW, electricity rates *will* vary from the estimate I provided earlier,
but not by an order of magnitude.
.

Relevant Pages

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