[nfbcs] Leaving computer powered on (was: Shutting off During the Night)

[John G Heim]

They told you in school that you save power by not shutting a computer 
down? Did they give any explanation for that? It seems rather unlikely 
to me. I'm sure the process of booting is fairly power intensive, lots 
of disk reads, lots of cpu cycles, etc. But could that be enough to make 
up for leaving your computer on all the time? It doesn't seem likely to me.

On the other hand, I don't think you can save the planet by turning your 
computer off over night.  I doubt that even if we, as a society, were 
very careful about turning our personal workstations off over night, it 
would make a significant difference with respect to global warming. It's 
like if you're on a diet, there is no point in denying yourself cream 
for your coffee. That little bit is going to be lost in the noise.  
There is more variation in the number of calories in the chicken wrap 
you are having for lunch than there is in the cream you put in your coffee.

Last Christmas, I heard a segment on the news where people where 
advocating buying energy efficient Christmas lights. First of all, how 
about not buying Christmas lights at all. Secondly, if you think you are 
saving the planet by buying anything, you're probably not. It will take 
years before you make up for the energy wasted manufacturing those 
lights. GHere's what you do -- instead of buying new lights, next time, 
instead of getting in your car and driving 2 blocks to a restaurant for 
lunch, just walk there.




On 02/21/2016 07:05 PM, Mike and Jenna via nfbcs wrote:
> Hi,
>
>  From everything I learned in school you are using less power buy living your
> computer on. It takes more power to start a computer from a cold boot.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jude DaShiell via
> nfbcs
> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 12:23 PM
> To: Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com>
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>
> Some people use nighttime hours to download podcasts and download then seed
> bittorrents and do updates.
>
> On Sun, 21 Feb 2016, Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs wrote:
>
>> Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2016 12:11:42
>> From: Nicole Torcolini via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>
>> Okay, this is not the answer, so you may stop reading if you do not
>> want to hear what I have to say. Why do you need the computer running
>> 24-7? Unless you produce your own electricity, you are probably
>> driving your energy bill up. Also, unless either you have your own
>> source of renewable energy or your energy program uses renewable
>> energy, you are adding to greenhouse gas emissions.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G.
>> Heim via nfbcs
>> Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2016 8:04 AM
>> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
>> Cc: John G. Heim
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Computer Shutting off During the Night
>>
>> I nominate over heating as a prime candidate. Points against it are
>> that it is occuring in the middle of the night when the computer is
>> not being used and when the environment is probably at it's coolest.
>> Is the machine doing anything in the middle of the night? Heavy backups?
>> Downloading updates?
>>
>> I would open it up and clean it out.  Especially make sure the fans
>> aren't blocked by dust anddog hair.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 02/21/2016 09:38 AM, Peter Donahue via nfbcs wrote:
>>> Good morning everyone,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>                   We're some of those folks that like to keep at least
>>> one computer running 24/7. Until last week this hasn't been a
>>> problem. Several mornings last week including this morning we came
>>> down stairs to find that Mary's computer had shut itself off during
>>> the night. It was necessary to unplug the power adapter and plug it
>>> back in again to restart her PC. Once the machine was back on and
>>> successfully rebooted everything was fine. It runs flawlessly.
>>> Someone suggested that the surge protector to which this machine is
> connected was doing its job protecting it from being fried.
>> These
>>> shut-downs occurred three times during the past week. Otherwise we've
>>> been able to run the computer overnight without problems. We may just
>>> have to shut it down manually before we go to bed until a technician
>>> can check it out. Someone is supposed to come on Friday to
>>> troubleshoot  this issue
>> along
>>> with some issues with some of our other devices. I've heard of
>>> computers shutting down by themselves unexpectedly so this is not new
>>> to me. I'd be curious to know if there are any settings I can check
>>> that may be responsible for this behavior. Any suggestions will be
> appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>>> Peter Donahue
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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