nature.org— We all know that leaving your computer on 24/7 will release up to 1,500 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. But if you absolutely must leave your computer on, here's a way you can make up for it...
Jan 29, 2008View in Crawl 4
at my company we instruct users to leave the computer on overnight because that is when we push software updates as well as run virus scans etc. We really only need the users to do it once a week, but trying to get people to remember simple things like "leave your computer on on thursday" is like pulling teeth.
"It takes up more energy to restart your computer than to just leave it on anyways." yea...if you turn your computer off and on every 30 seconds maybe, but it does not take more energy to start a computer, then it does for a computer to run for 5 hours unused.
What is the motive behind a scientists' will to impose a CO2 tax? Why are we so resistant to scientific claims when they don't support our preconceived notions? oh yeah...
There have been some misunderstandings in this discussion about the nature of distributed computing and the Climate Prediction project. There are now many distributed computing projects which ask volunteers to run tasks on their home computers to contribute to scientific research. Volunteers can choose projects in the fields of mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy and medicine as well as climatology. Climate Prediction models do not only attempt to predict the nature and likelihood of future climate changes. Some models are designed to study the attribution of some of the probable changes ie to help identify the causes of particular changes. Volunteers who offer their computer time to these projects are under no obligation to leave their computers on 24/7, or any longer than they would normally have them on. Some volunteers simply let their computers work at low priority in the background while in normal use, then turn the computer off. Some do choose to let their computers work on the research tasks 24/7, but others only do this during the winter months when warmth from the computers can be a substitute for some of their normal space heating. No distributed computed volunteer is obliged to let the computer work at 100% on the research tasks. The project settings allow one to reduce this to any lower % preferred. In the case of laptops which have less cooling capacity than desktops, a lower setting is in fact always highly recommended by the research projects themselves. There is nothing to be lost and a lot to be gained by downloading the BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Distributed Computing) software and attaching to the project(s) of one's choice. It's a great way to contribute to cutting-edge investigations by research teams who often have insufficient funding for the supercomputers that might otherwise be required to process the data.
doctechnicalJan 29, 2008
"Wake on LAN" is a wonderful thing.
xtc46Jan 29, 2008
at my company we instruct users to leave the computer on overnight because that is when we push software updates as well as run virus scans etc. We really only need the users to do it once a week, but trying to get people to remember simple things like "leave your computer on on thursday" is like pulling teeth.
xtc46Jan 29, 2008
"It takes up more energy to restart your computer than to just leave it on anyways." yea...if you turn your computer off and on every 30 seconds maybe, but it does not take more energy to start a computer, then it does for a computer to run for 5 hours unused.
vikingcoderJan 29, 2008
Reading comprehension is a good thing. Try it some time.
trunksterJan 29, 2008
My computer is always downloading po.... videos all the time. I'm not wasting energy at all, plus with bit torrent I share the love.
derrekitoJan 30, 2008
Good Point!
rollemJan 30, 2008
What is the motive behind a scientists' will to impose a CO2 tax? Why are we so resistant to scientific claims when they don't support our preconceived notions? oh yeah...
webworkerJan 30, 2008
Here's a list of them: <a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_computing_projects">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_c ...</a>
wellyukJan 30, 2008
@bullcutter:Well, yes. It is absolutely about moderation. Al Gore is an arsehole if his carbon footprint is as big as you describe.
bigbluecarbonJan 30, 2008
wow, just like climate modeling
movilarJan 31, 2008
There have been some misunderstandings in this discussion about the nature of distributed computing and the Climate Prediction project. There are now many distributed computing projects which ask volunteers to run tasks on their home computers to contribute to scientific research. Volunteers can choose projects in the fields of mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy and medicine as well as climatology. Climate Prediction models do not only attempt to predict the nature and likelihood of future climate changes. Some models are designed to study the attribution of some of the probable changes ie to help identify the causes of particular changes. Volunteers who offer their computer time to these projects are under no obligation to leave their computers on 24/7, or any longer than they would normally have them on. Some volunteers simply let their computers work at low priority in the background while in normal use, then turn the computer off. Some do choose to let their computers work on the research tasks 24/7, but others only do this during the winter months when warmth from the computers can be a substitute for some of their normal space heating. No distributed computed volunteer is obliged to let the computer work at 100% on the research tasks. The project settings allow one to reduce this to any lower % preferred. In the case of laptops which have less cooling capacity than desktops, a lower setting is in fact always highly recommended by the research projects themselves. There is nothing to be lost and a lot to be gained by downloading the BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Distributed Computing) software and attaching to the project(s) of one's choice. It's a great way to contribute to cutting-edge investigations by research teams who often have insufficient funding for the supercomputers that might otherwise be required to process the data.
jonno549Jun 7, 2008
so you're not very busy then?