Slashdot Mirror
Computers Causing 2nd Hump In Peak Power Demand
Hugh Pickens writes "Traditional peak power hours — the time during the day when power demand shoots up — run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. when air conditioning begins to ramp up and people start heading for malls and home but utilities are now seeing another peak power problem evolve with a second surge that runs from about 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. when people head toward their big screen TVs and home computers. 'It is [not] so much a peak as it is a plateau,' says Andrew Tang, senior director of the smart energy web at Pacific Gas & Electric. '8 p.m. is kind of a recent phenomenon.' Providing power during the peak hours is already a costly proposition because approximately 10 percent of the existing generating capacity only gets used about 50 hours a year: Most of the time, that expensive capital equipment sits idle waiting for a crisis. Efforts to reduce demand are already underway with TV manufacturers working to reduce the power consumption in LCD and plasma while Intel and PC manufacturers are cranking down computer power consumption. 'Without a doubt, there's demand' for green PCs, says Rick Chernick, CEO of HP partner Connecting Point, adding that the need to be green is especially noticeable among medical industry enterprise customers."
Traditional peak power hours -- the time during the day when power demand shoots up -- run from 4 pm to 7 pm when air conditioning begins to ramp up
But what about those of us who DON'T live in Texas? I only use my air conditioning 3-4 months a year, and not consistantly then. I haven't had it on for weeks; I ran the (gas) furnace this morning.
And most people I know (granted, most of tem aren't nerds) turn the TV on as soon as they get home. How did they come to the conclusion that computers are causeing the spike?
Maybe folks are eating dinner later and it's that George Foreman electric grill and 750 watt microwave nuking dinner that's causing it?
Sorry, I didn't read the linked blagh. Were there some useful stats garnered from real research, or was it a slanted piece like it seemed from its URL?
Free Martian Whores!
1. Offer to sell electricity at a fixed rate by the hour
2. Broadcast the price through the outlet
3. Let appliances display the current (ahah) hourly rate
\u262D = \u5350
As far as I can see this is just a bs sensationalizing fluff story. I work for a multi state power utility as an engineer and we have no such issues.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
.....Of all the countries that practice significant government intervention in markets, how on earth did you pick North Korea? It's like saying, "Hey tjstork, your computer is a bit laggy" "WELL AT LEAST ITS FASTER THAN THE P3 I INSTALLED VISTA ON, LOL"
The free market is actually coming up with solutions?
No.
The fact this trend happening in consumer electronics is a boon to a straining power industry is an accident. (No, i'm not being sarcastic).
These companies have other, more important reasons for developing higher performance per watt.
The trend in computing is increasingly toward notebook ownership. Notebook battery life is increased by lower power consumption.
LCD displays also eat a lot of computer battery power.
It is in the best interest of the panel makers (whose panels end up in both TVs AND Computers) to increase the energy efficiency of their panels.
Flat panel tv's also benefit from this lower power consumption, which also serves as an excellent marketing angle for "those thrifty tree huggers".
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
So, in other words, the consumers are demanding certain kinds of products, and the companies that make them are creating them.
Sounds remarkably a lot like the free market working.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
this already happens if people try - where i live i opted for the time of use meter - where off peak power is extreamly cheap and on peak it is 2x or more normal price..
mix that with the fact that i have appliances with timers - we load the dish washer or washer or dryer and set it to run at 12-2am .. and go to bed..
in a 2 story house with 2 people the standard compliment of 3 comps and 2 laptops last month our power bill was 100$
if you try there is incentive to do it - you just have to be willing to make the effort
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
You're young and naive; things don't move that fast. I'm 56 and the stuff that was science fiction when I was a kid has mostly already happened.
Look at Star Trek (it's dead, Jim). Self-opening doors? Yep, in every grocery store. Communucators? Yep, only we call them cell phones. Flat screen voice activated talking computers on a desk? Yep. When Star Trek came out the average computer wasn't much more powerful than today's scientific calculator and took a whole building to house, and cost millions of dollars. Say "Mom" into your Razr and it will dial your mother.
Some other things we didn't have included digital clocks, the internet, CDs, DVDs, VCRs, microwave ovens, motion sensors, crack cocaine (some things alas should never be invented), antiviral drugs, antidepressant drugs, LEDs, LCDs, air bags in cars, fuel injectors in cars, or global warming.
In Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan McCoy couldn't cure Kirk's age-related farsightedness. But Dr. Yeh cured mine!
In 2003 the FDA approved the CrystaLens eye implant. It was a life changing technology for me; as the linked journal says, I was very nearsighted all my life, and in middle age I became farsighted as well, using contact lenses AND reading glasses. I wear no corrective lenses at all now.
They invented the flying car in 1903, it's called an "airplane". There is more energy than I can use coming from the wall sockets in my home, is that not "limitless" for all practical purposes? And they can in fact cure many cancers these days provided it is caught soon enough.
To this geezerly nerd, I'm living in a science fiction world. You might be interested to read Growing up with computers. I think you are likely to see as much progress in your life by the time you reach my age as I have. Unless I croak soon I expect to see even more technological miracles.
Free Martian Whores!
So, in other words, the consumers are demanding certain kinds of products, and the companies that make them are creating them.
Sounds remarkably a lot like the free market working.
Yes, but not for the power companies.
There are plenty of incidences of interactions between 2 parties providing benefit to a third by mere coincidence, but that does not mean the third party influenced them.
I'll let you know when the free market caters to my demand for affordable healthcare coverage so I can have more than 8 hours awake per day.
Let me know when the free market
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
For saying that this isn't free market you sure did a great job explaining the OP's case for him.
This guy said this is an example of a free market "working"
free markets work on supply and demand.
These companies are not responding to power companies' complaints. The power company is not benefiting from a free market, just a fortuitous but unrelated chain of events.
If the customers of laptops demanded obscene brightness, more screen real estate, and high performance short bursts of computing power, they'd put 17 CPU's and 4 panels on laptops and they'd suck the grid dry.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
offer cheaper power at off-peak times. Let me use my dryer cheaper at 11PM than 5PM and I'll gladly make an effort to do just that.
Keep charging me the same, and I'll continue to not care about peak power.
1) More efficient drivetrains for cars -> we immediately think "kewl, now I can use a bigger motor and go 0-60 in 4 seconds!"
2) Lower power semiconductors just let us ramp up the GHz.
3) Better insulated homes, we buy bigger homes with more empty rooms.
4) Ultimately now matter how energy efficient we become, it will just make the carrying capacity that much higher (i.e. more affordable to have more kids).
All of these are good things - I like big flatscreens, fast cars, and kids as much as the next guy. But as for efficiency reducing mankind's footprint on the environment, I'm worried it might not happen.
You're absolutely right -- people just get jaded. The comedian Louis CK has a bit where he asks when flying went from man's greatest dream to a dreaded bore, and points out how people whine that their choices of movie is quite limited and their chicken was overdone while they're hurtling along from continent to continent at 30,000 feet. "It's A MIRACLE. You're FLYING! The airlines shouldn't even have to advertise anything other than 'WE can FLY!!'".
I still have a sense of wonder that we can get voice recognition and optical character recognition to work.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt