Discussion
Roughly roughly, for each eight hour working day, running decoded.legal (office, AC, all our self-hosted servers (running 24/7) etc.), uses 6.2 kWh of electricity.
This is down from 8.4 kWh when I last measured it.
(I have shut down and consolidated a few (quite low power) servers recently, and I've done some more measuring.)
@neil This is interesting but I do sometimes wonder if it wasn't for your business policy reqs if you'd actually bother?
I suspect that most people who have a smart meter and one of those display things. It'll be looked at for a week, and the shoved in the "this is where all the crap goes" drawer; since there may be very little you can do without more capex.
I _know_ that my house resting rate is ~0.3kw so that's about 7.2kWh per day. It could be lowered since all the computers are 24x7 and then there's the usual other paraphenalia. Everything is now electric apart from a single wok burner & boiler.
Turning on the TV bumps it to at least 1.0kW power-draw. If the family is actively doing things (computer games what-have-you) then it goes up to 0.8kW without the TV.
I've made my peace with that level, because in effect, if the solar battery is charged to ~70% by 1800 (it's ~14kWh) it's free overnight and then some for the shower / coffee machine the next day until solar kicks in again.
> if it wasn't for your business policy reqs if you'd actually bother?
Oh, this is very much just a "me" thing!
@neil You are probably the law firm with the most transparent carbon footprint disclosures in the world!
Just to play the devil's advocate... In what cases would you consider the servers' power consumption beyond the 8h work day? For example, you presumably don't shut down your mailserver outside office hours. (I've not checked whether it's part of your self-hosting at home.)
I should be clearer: this is running the servers 24/7, but the office (aircon, monitors, laptop, lighting) eight hours a day.
Could I get it lower? Absolutely.
Is it worth it? I'm not sure. Probably not at the moment.
I could probably replace some of the older servers (Intel NUCs) with some newer ones, which are probably more power efficient.
But (a) there's an environmental impact of replacing working hardware with newer hardware, which might offset the benefits, and (b) now is not a good time to buying new computers.
@neil it would be nice to upgrade my aging 4770k based server with a NUC-like device, but it wouldn't house all the drives! Also, aren't those things still pricey, even with *gestures to all consumer pc parts*
I was actually more interested in understanding if either of the fridges which were here when we moved here five years ago might be a justifiable replacement, in terms of power consumption.
I need to measure a bit more, but since they are at least six years old, and probably >10, even though they are still working and I hate replacing working stuff, they are probably quite power hungry.
@neil what should I say about my 30 years old fridge and washing machines ?
@neil Could be. I had a Climate Challenge job while I was doing a degree a few years back, and helped local folk understand their power consumption. In some cases, we found older freezers using 400w, and they were just small chest freezers (for small chests....)
But if yours are less then 10 years old, I suspect efficiencies will be marginal.
@withaveeay Interesting - thank you!
@neil
I'm into granny-sucking-eggs territory here, but searching the internet for the fridge model numbers should turn up the EU energy efficiency data. That'll tell you how much energy they used (under standard conditions) when new.
The official EU database of these things is open to public sear
@sheddi Interesting!
I wonder if I will have to move the units to find that...
@neil my 25+ year old fridge, with a dodgy door seal that kept pushing the door open, was using 2kWh/day earlier this year when it was 30°C in the kitchen. I did replace the fridge.
Like you I didn't want to replace something that was working.
@talldavek Yes - that's exactly the kind of thing I want to check!
@neil The big difference between ancient refrigerators and newer ones is insulation. The thing that makes a six year old fridge less efficient over time is the door seal.
The thing you can do to maximize the efficiency is to periodically clean the dust off the condenser coils and make sure it has good air circulation.
@neil It's probably cheaper to add another solar panel?
Last time I checked the prices of new computers, it would be cheaper to build a nuclear power station in the garden.
Almost.
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
