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Use Linux to Reduce Your Power Bill

Stephen Herzog writes "Linux Devices has published an article about the AcquiSuite, a Linux based hardware device that collects and reports energy consumption information. Companies who are looking at energy management solutions need to keep the cost down in order to recover their retrofit cost with savings from the energy bill. Linux is a perfect fit for cheap data collection devices in part because "Linux provides complete TCP/IP functionality, PPP... and no royalties"."

4 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It can't save you money on your electricity bil by Gimpin · · Score: 1, Insightful

    err..ok, so how about your refrigerator...oh, I guess you can shut that off when you are not using it as well

    --
    "Simon Says, Fuck You" - George Carlin
  2. Re:Not only does it reduce your power bill.... by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you run an intel processor, it systematically shuts down logic thats not in use (fpu, etc), and it has nothing to do with the OS. It will shut itself down, the equivalent of a halt, without the halt.

    Only the Athlons need the archaic halt command.

    Nice troll, though.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  3. Re:Linux toggles less gates for workload... by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > Linux ran at about 78F degrees. Windows ran at about 92F degrees. Same tasks for both.

    Same tasks? Pray tell, which tasks? vi vs. MS Word? 78F CPU temp is awful freakin cold. Was linux running in an IGLOO?

    You're comparing a linux CLI to Windows with a full GUI, and getting heat of the video card, extra proc time devoted to rendering.

    Compare the heat generated in the Q3 timedemo on both, and see if there's a difference with the CPU under a full load. There won't be.

    Bah to cooked benchmarks.

    Also, I've never seen a CPU vary that much from full idle to a full load.

    Either A) Your friend misapplied the ASIII and heatsink, B) Your friend is a liar, or C) You made this shit up knowing a MS slam would get you karma.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  4. Re:Some perspective... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I, too, work in that field - for a BAS equipment dealer. I can vouch for the fact that a well designed and implemented BAS can save millions.

    - Demand spikes are handled by a simple software delay, telling the controllers to power up in 1(or 10 or 30) second intervals after power off or power failure.

    - Heating systems generally start a warm-up sequence in early morning so the building is warmer when people arrive. This makes the units work less when people start cranking up their room t-stats. The same idea applies for cooling in the summer. This also reduces demand spikes.

    - Software-based scheduling can save tons by shutting systems down at night.

    - Lighting systems can be monitored for efficiency. Large sections of buildings can be scheduled to go dark after hours.

    - Heat recovery can save energy, and this *will* require a BAS of some sort. Heat recovery wheels, return air dampers, variable speed drives... they must all work together to recover energy that would otherwise go out the building exhaust. This has the side effect of putting less runtime on electric heaters, which do eventually fail, therefore saving repair costs as well.

    - Time savings must also be accounted for. Troubleshooting time is greatly reduced by a BAS. This allows a small maintenance crew to maintain a large campus/district/building, reducing payroll.

    The aforementioned "$200 to $500" figure is vastly inaccurate, and in some cases, companies could save thousands of times that much.

    Some companies I know of that use our system are(without giving away location or affiliation):

    IBM
    Lucent
    AT&T
    Edward Jones
    United States Air Force (DITCO)
    Southwest Bank ... along with several local school districts and universities.

    Trust me, if this wasn't saving more money than it costs, they WOULD NOT use it. And it IS NOT cheap.

    Our stuff doesn't use embedded Linux AFAIK, though. Everything is done with small "driver" programs installed on a flash ROM. By "small" I mean usually 16kB. The rest of the flash ROM is used for the custom BAS programs we make.

    Mattintosh