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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"."
We used proprietary software that cost a WHOLE lot and sold it to people for a lot. But it still saved money. Now the outfit is having to switch over to more Linux/OSS based stuff because they're running out of funding.
Except for the government clients.. they alwasy seemed to have money.
...because Linux doesn't support ACPI.
Linux is a perfect fit for cheap data collection devices in part because "Linux provides complete TCP/IP functionality, PPP, a horrible UI and no royalties
kill a watt meter does this too.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
to monitor water usage. It is actually kind of cool from my geek perspective. You get a bill for utilities from a company in Texas which is where the data is aggregated.
At first when I saw the box and I didn't know what it was so I called the phone number and asked what it was and they said oh it is an embedded machine to remotely monitor your water usage. I guess I got a tech/service operator because they were very knowledgable and said it uses embedded linux and want on to explain how it works (in general terms). The rep said the only presence they have in Seattle is for a technician for service related calls.
You could easily imagine running a utility company on a skeleton crew with only a strong capital investment on the onset. Makes you think.
my father is a HVAC mechanic. He currently works as the Maintenance Supervisor at an animal testing facility in NEPA.
He says that such devices are practically non-sense. Changing CERTAIN devices related to HVAC will save you $200 to $500 over a 10-15 year period. There is NO way to save much more in large buildings (which this device seems to).
You are going to have to pay for new equipment to save then you are going to have to watch the savings over the years after the equipment is changed.
it's really not as great of a device as they say it is.
It's pretty much on the front page b/c of free advertising at least IMHO.
And for those times that the Windows box is running, there are large energy draws from the mechanisms in place that
a) ensure you do nothing to violate any copyrights of anyone anywhere ever
b) contact your employers, friends and family should you start expressing interest in any form of open-source solutions
c) track your every move and thought for future marketing purposes.
If you want to reduce power usage, would you want to use an Intel x86 chip in that goal? Wouldn't a PPC Linux be more power efficient? I am sure others can bring up other lower power consuming chips that have Linux ports than Intel's power hungry beast.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Using Linux itself has just saved me money in my time. "It just works". Make a change, reboot, make a change, reboot, reboot? Never. Mysterious crashes? Long gone.
:) that the lights turn on automatically (sensored to X10) and the Linux box sees this (and the time) and dims the lights automatically for me. HHmmm, this saves power too!
I've also always had I believe a CM11a plugged into one of the serial ports. It's called X10 and allows signalling to take place over the electrical lines.
Linux takes care of outside lighting, HV/AC, and a host of other operations for me around the house. Add in a RF remote and all of a sudden you can control/dim the lights throughout the house with X10 and the remote in your hand (Linux does nothing here).
Can Windows control the lights? Of course, but I've never seen a Windows box "just work" with no human intervention for years on end.
I like the fact that when I walk into the bathroom at 2am (for obvious reasons
But linux is also proven to reduce your processor heat as well. Its called two little assembaly opcodes that Linux uses.
EI
Halt
This two little commands enable all interupts and then halt the processor (in that order). So while the box is doing nothing, the processor is also doing nothing, excepting waiting on some interupts to go back to work. Because the processor has halted and is doing absolutely nothing, it has time to cool down.
Windows, as far as I know, does not implement these opcodes, and I don't know excatly how they could get away with it. I guess that is how processors burn up. Maybe these opcodes help in the deduction of your power billsince the processor is no longer "active".
All opcodes are for the Z80, I do not know if they are the same for the x86 processors as well, but the theory is the same.
Look at your power meter when things are running. Then turn some of them off. Shortly after I moved into a new house, I noticed my meter was going pretty fast. After turning things on and off, I realized that the 5 vanity lights above my bathroom mirror were using a boatload of electricity, more than any other thing in my house. Probably more than any three things running at once.
Especially for retrofit situations? All outlets can be X-10 managed, but this doesn't say anything about actual power consumption. I'd like something at my breaker box to measure the actual Kilowatt usage on the different circuits. Also it needs to be something passive, so if the computer goes down the system still needs to work perfectly (and then can poll the devices when it comes back up).
I also think it is worth pointing out that the author is employed by the company (http://www.obvius.com/) that sells the reviewed product....
And I use Linux all the time.
In fact, all our web-based energy visualisation products were developed and run on Linux, and the 3D energy visualisation work I do on this in my spare time:
screenshot
is also developed and run on Linux.
The devices we use to interface ethernet with meters are too lightweight to run linux, they simply provide a TCP-IP -> serial connection for the meter's RS-232/422 interface and an ethernet port for connection to a LAN.
Many meters only support pulse-output, which does require a device such as this to count pulses, convert them to kWh or other relevant measurement, buffer these readings for some period and provide a interface for this data to be extracted, which is what this device is.
It is nice to see multiple inputs for temperature etc, as energy consumption data alone often does not provide enough of a picture to make decisions that can really cut your energy peaks or identify areas of inefficiency.
I gots ta ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
It's called the Kill-A-Watt, and is available from ETA Engineering, CCrane, and Radio Shack. .
I'm not involved in this, but just bought one, and it's answered a bunch of questions about how much everything uses. Interesting!