5 ms·

Building a 30 million kWh Social Power Array using Facebook, PC Power Management

6 points by sameet 17y ago

jcdreads 17y ago
This is a very cool idea, but when folks express power savings in units of kWh/year it makes my head spin. So... 100 kWh / year == 100,000 W / (years/hour) == 17.1 W. so we save 17 W per computer. This is good, though less impressive-sounding. Another way of looking at it is that a kWh of electricity costs something like $0.10. Saving 100 of those a year is ten bucks per computer. $10 per PC per year is nothing to sneeze at if you have a lot of computers.
- sameet 17y ago
  Absolutely! And 100 kWh /year is a very conservative estimate, almost pessimistic. Most of the studies claim savings in the range of 600 kWh - so 60$ per computer per year. For those who have the habit of keeping their PC on all night, savings would be much higher - more so for organizations with large networks.
- noelsequeira 17y ago
  Thanks. We're glad you like the concept. We've laid emphasis on aggregate stats and huge figures as we want to tap into the sense of gratification that one gets from being part of a large and meaningful movement. That being said, we understand that most folks on HN will analyze the data objectively and therefore we've been modest at best with our numbers. PC Power Management is not a new concept. Giving it a social spin with a game, we believe, is.
ynniv 17y ago
"Install our [untrusted native code] and make the world a better* place!" (* assuming that your old, inefficient, Windows desktop computer, and monitor are on 24/7 and you don't have power saving enabled, and you tell a lot of your friends) "If even 0.1% of all users on Facebook (300,000 users) install Enpower" This reminds me of a recent article pointing out the fact that there are numbers less than 1 (or 1/10 in this case) [ http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090928/1101596338.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090928/1101596338.shtml ]. "The Nellis Solar Power System generates 30 million kWH annually" I have a different perspective for you - 30 million kWH is also about 3 million gallons of gasoline (as burned in internal combustion engines), which is about as much gasoline as this country consumes in 10 minutes. So, not really that much. EDIT: toned down the vocab, it was too judgemental
- noelsequeira 17y ago
  We've stated explicitly that these are "INCREMENTAL" savings. We do not assume that your PC is on 24x7. If it's on all the time, you'd stand to save much more. Why don't you sign up and have a look at how much users are saving? We've had 36 downloads over the last week - friends in our immediate network. They're your average joe user - none of them leave their PCs on at night. Enpower kicks in when they forget to power down, and you'd be surprised to learn how often that is. Please don't call an app from a startup spyware. It's unlikely we'll ever have the resources to do what it takes to look "squeaky clean" from your lofty perspective. Green Facebook apps have seen much more adoption than we aspire to achieve. Little Green Patch, a social gardening game has 1,889,557 active monthly users. (http://www.facebook.com/applications/%28Lil%29_Green_Patch/7629233915 http://www.facebook.com/applications/%28Lil%29_Green_Patch/7...) They state their advertisers will donate towards reforestation if you exchange "packets of seeds" with your friends. I think our effort could be just as meaningful, if not more. I do admit that a download is a significant barrier and we're not aiming to reach magical numbers within a week. It'll be slow, and we're ready for it. And finally, if 30 million kWH means so little, why spend a 100 million dollars of taxpayers' money (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Power-System-Tour-Nellis-Air-Force-Base-Las-Vegas-NV/ http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe...) to pump that amount of clean energy into the grid? Surely, the Government must know better.
  - ynniv 17y ago
    > Please don't call an app from a startup spyware. It's unlikely we'll ever have the resources to do what it takes to look "squeaky clean" from your lofty perspective. Sorry, you're right. I've edited my original comment to be less damning. > Why don't you sign up and have a look at how much users are saving? For one, it doesn't look compatible with MacOSX. Additionally, I have little trust of 3rd party native code. > Little Green Patch, a social gardening game has 1,889,557 active monthly users My opinion of Facebook apps is that they are useless, but also (some privacy aside) harmless. > And finally, if 30 million kWH means so little, why spend a 100 million dollars of taxpayers' money (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe... http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe...) to pump that amount of clean energy into the grid? 100 million was spent to build a facility, not purchase a years worth of output. Solar panels should last at least 10 years, so divide that 100 million by at least 10. Additionally, funding solar installations is viewed as an indirect means of funding solar panel research, and not as a simple purchase of energy. > Surely, the Government must know better. I think that we all have an intuition for how government contracts are awarded, and knowledge isn't on that list.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

6 points by sameet 17y ago

This is a very cool idea, but when folks express power savings in units of kWh/year it makes my head spin. So... 100 kWh / year == 100,000 W / (years/hour) == 17.1 W. so we save 17 W per computer. This is good, though less impressive-sounding. Another way of looking at it is that a kWh of electricity costs something like $0.10. Saving 100 of those a year is ten bucks per computer. $10 per PC per year is nothing to sneeze at if you have a lot of computers.

sameet 17y ago
Absolutely! And 100 kWh /year is a very conservative estimate, almost pessimistic. Most of the studies claim savings in the range of 600 kWh - so 60$ per computer per year. For those who have the habit of keeping their PC on all night, savings would be much higher - more so for organizations with large networks.
noelsequeira 17y ago
Thanks. We're glad you like the concept. We've laid emphasis on aggregate stats and huge figures as we want to tap into the sense of gratification that one gets from being part of a large and meaningful movement. That being said, we understand that most folks on HN will analyze the data objectively and therefore we've been modest at best with our numbers. PC Power Management is not a new concept. Giving it a social spin with a game, we believe, is.

ynniv 17y ago

"Install our [untrusted native code] and make the world a better* place!" (* assuming that your old, inefficient, Windows desktop computer, and monitor are on 24/7 and you don't have power saving enabled, and you tell a lot of your friends) "If even 0.1% of all users on Facebook (300,000 users) install Enpower" This reminds me of a recent article pointing out the fact that there are numbers less than 1 (or 1/10 in this case) [ http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090928/1101596338.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090928/1101596338.shtml ]. "The Nellis Solar Power System generates 30 million kWH annually" I have a different perspective for you - 30 million kWH is also about 3 million gallons of gasoline (as burned in internal combustion engines), which is about as much gasoline as this country consumes in 10 minutes. So, not really that much. EDIT: toned down the vocab, it was too judgemental

noelsequeira 17y ago
We've stated explicitly that these are "INCREMENTAL" savings. We do not assume that your PC is on 24x7. If it's on all the time, you'd stand to save much more. Why don't you sign up and have a look at how much users are saving? We've had 36 downloads over the last week - friends in our immediate network. They're your average joe user - none of them leave their PCs on at night. Enpower kicks in when they forget to power down, and you'd be surprised to learn how often that is. Please don't call an app from a startup spyware. It's unlikely we'll ever have the resources to do what it takes to look "squeaky clean" from your lofty perspective. Green Facebook apps have seen much more adoption than we aspire to achieve. Little Green Patch, a social gardening game has 1,889,557 active monthly users. (http://www.facebook.com/applications/%28Lil%29_Green_Patch/7629233915 http://www.facebook.com/applications/%28Lil%29_Green_Patch/7...) They state their advertisers will donate towards reforestation if you exchange "packets of seeds" with your friends. I think our effort could be just as meaningful, if not more. I do admit that a download is a significant barrier and we're not aiming to reach magical numbers within a week. It'll be slow, and we're ready for it. And finally, if 30 million kWH means so little, why spend a 100 million dollars of taxpayers' money (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Power-System-Tour-Nellis-Air-Force-Base-Las-Vegas-NV/ http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe...) to pump that amount of clean energy into the grid? Surely, the Government must know better.
- ynniv 17y ago
  > Please don't call an app from a startup spyware. It's unlikely we'll ever have the resources to do what it takes to look "squeaky clean" from your lofty perspective. Sorry, you're right. I've edited my original comment to be less damning. > Why don't you sign up and have a look at how much users are saving? For one, it doesn't look compatible with MacOSX. Additionally, I have little trust of 3rd party native code. > Little Green Patch, a social gardening game has 1,889,557 active monthly users My opinion of Facebook apps is that they are useless, but also (some privacy aside) harmless. > And finally, if 30 million kWH means so little, why spend a 100 million dollars of taxpayers' money (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe... http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Nellis-Solar-Powe...) to pump that amount of clean energy into the grid? 100 million was spent to build a facility, not purchase a years worth of output. Solar panels should last at least 10 years, so divide that 100 million by at least 10. Additionally, funding solar installations is viewed as an indirect means of funding solar panel research, and not as a simple purchase of energy. > Surely, the Government must know better. I think that we all have an intuition for how government contracts are awarded, and knowledge isn't on that list.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]