[Solitechsupport] [linuxola] power costs for new versus old devices

[techis1 at bluewin.ch]

>-- Original-Nachricht --
>From: theo.schmidt at wilhelmtux.ch
>To: linuxola at wilhelmtux.ch
>Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 11:33:38 +0100
>Subject: [Solitechsupport] [linuxola] power costs for new versus old devices
>Reply-To: linuxola at wilhelmtux.ch
>



Hi,well about the issue of the old computer, we find it much more confortable
if we use the materials which we can afford for. In short we are presently
without any official sponsor so to me the issue
of new material is out of discussion.

Furthermore about the issue of Labtop, I find it inefficient in our capacity
as a non-governmental organisation to start thinking of labtops. We have
very little resources for such products at the
moment.

I think we most never forget the fact that, the project is to help the people
to use the most common and cheap materials which they can afford for in Africa,
not at the Level of European
standard.Because they can aswell reach the European standard with the knowledge
which we can provide .

we are in contact with friends in cameroon and we will discuss the matter
with them and see their own side of it. that why we send this mail to these
friends.

felix
 



>
>Deutsche Zusammenfassung:
>Die Energiekosten fpr LTSP können beträchtlich sein. Bei solaren Inselanlagen
>dürfte es billiger sein, neue Thin Clients (Verbrauch 10W) zu kaufen, statt
>
>alte PCs zu benutzen (Verbrauch 40W). Auch im konventionellen Stromnetz

>dürfte sich die Verwendung von alten Röhren-Monitore für den häufigen 
>Gebrauch nicht rechnen. Hier müssten vorübergehend neue LCD Monitore gekauft
>
>werden bis genügend solche sowie Laptops gratis verfügbar werden. Ausserdem
>
>ist es wichtig, das 12V Netzteil für alte PCs fertig zu entwickeln.
>
>--------------
>
>In last week's workshop at revamp-it in Zürich it was evident that supplying
>
>adequate electrical power must be an integral part of the LTSP. One of the
>
>advantages of the LTSP is the robustness: power supply failure to the thin
>
>clients won't damage anything and only the server must be protected.
>
>However even considering the above, supplying power is always associated
>with 
>costs: investments, running costs and environmental costs. Therefore we
must
>
>consider carefully the power requirements of a LTSP and balance these against
>
>the costs of supplying power.
>
>Electric energy in Switzerland typically costs 0.2 CHF per kWh, mostly from
>
>water power. Solar electricity costs about 1 CHF per kWh, but this is for
>a 
>grid-connected system and does not include storage in batteries. The costs
>
>for solar energy with battery storage are considerably higher, perhaps twice,
>
>and also involve periodic replacement and recyclcing of the batteries, itself
>
>a dirty and hazardous business except in the case of sealed plants. The
costs
>
>incurred with diesel generators are also around 0.5-1 CHF per kWh, but there
>
>is also noise and pollution and this system has no future. Other technologies
>
>such as fuel cells are becoming available but are still very expensive.
Human
>
>power is suitable for low power levels in remote areas, for individual 
>personal devices or for short durations, but higher power levels for longer
>
>durations would be too expensive and the same would apply to electricity
>
>generation with animal power.
>
>>From the above it is clear that running the LTSP equipment is costly no
>matter 
>which system is used. The energy costs must be balanced against the equipment
>
>costs. 
>
>The type of used PCs we are collecting for use as thin clients require a
>power 
>supply of 230V and consume typically about 40W without the monitor. The
type
>
>of CRT monitors we are collecting typically require 100W at 230V.
>
>Therefore operating these devices 6 hours every day typically costs 17.5
>CHF 
>per year for the PC and 44 CHF for the monitor, in Switzerland. With a solar
>
>battery installation the costs would however be about 175 CHF per year PC
>and 
>440 CHF per year monitor.
>
>Now we must compare these costs to those incurred by using new equipment.
>As 
>can be seen on the page  
>http://www.transtec.ch/CH/D/search.html?q=thin+client&bsubmit=GO
>thin clients are available which use 10W or 25W and cost about CHF 350 to
>CHF 
>400. This means that for those areas where the power supply is solar it
would
>
>save costs by buying new 10W thin clients. The used PC thin clients might
>by 
>feasible if the revamp-it 12V power supply can be cheaply perfected and
can
>
>reduce the power from say 40W to 30W by virtue of a higher efficiency.
>
>In the case of monitors, new 15" LCD monitors consuming about 20W are 
>available for around CHF 200. Thus it seems that using the available CRT
>
>monitors is too costly even in Switzerland and probably more so in Africa
>and 
>they should be used only in special cases, e.g. when they are not used many
>
>hours every day.
>
>It appears that we should carefully consider which devices are used where
>and 
>use new devices rather than used ones in some cases. Special prudence is
>
>required in the case of CRT monitors. Soon there will be more used laptops
>
>and LCD monitors available, so revamp-it and others might be advised to
not
>
>collect too many old CRT monitors.
>
>Theo Schmidt
>
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