Most energy efficient (home) setup

Wed Feb 22 22:07:00 UTC 2012

I've run a SheevaPlug at home for a few years now.  I don't do
anything fancy with it, but it does what I need it to do.  Mostly that
is file server, web server, jump-box for network testing.  Also
testing different linux software for this and that...  (Quagga runs
nicely, but won't hold a full BGP table :)

There are no moving parts in my home computer/networking gear, unless
my laptop is running.  That was the goal for me.  I recently grabbed a
couple of TPLink WR703N devices to mess around with as well, but I
haven't had a chance to dig into that much.

The internet tells me that the Sheeva uses about 5 Watts of power.
Along with my wireless router and DSL modem I might be under 10 Watts,
but I really don't know how much power a wireless modem uses.

Oh and I also have native IPv6 on my DSL.  I like to brag about that
whenever I can.

Marcel

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 4:13 PM, Jeroen van Aart <jeroen at mompl.net> wrote:
> After reading a number of threads where people list their huge and wasteful,
> but undoubtedly fun (and sometimes necessary?), home setups complete with
> dedicated rooms and aircos I felt inclined to ask who has attempted to make
> a really energy efficient setup?
>
> This may be an interesting read, it uses a plugcomputer:
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/11/diy_zero_energy_home_server/page2.html
>
> Admittedly I don't have a need for a full blown home lab since I am not a
> network engineer, I'm more of a sysadmin/network admin/programmer kind of
> person... So I can make do with a somewhat minimal set up. But I *do* have
> tunneled IPv6 from home ;-)
>
> In my current apartment in addition to an el cheapo DSL modem that probably
> wastes about 10 watts and a "sometimes on" PC workstation I used to have an
> always on thinkpad (early 2000s model) as my main desktop system and an
> always on G4 system (pegasos2 in case you care) acting as a mail/web/ssh
> server. The thinkpad was a refurbished model and it was quite stable, up to
> 500 days of uptime during its last years. But the hardware slowly
> disintegrated and when the gfx card died I retired it.
>
> Right now my always on server is a VIA artigo 1100 pico-itx system
> (replacing the G4 system) and my "router/firewall/modem" is still the el
> cheapo DSL modem (which runs busybox by the way). I have an upgraded
> workstation that's "sometimes on", it has a mini itx form factor (AMD
> phenom2 CPU). I use debian on all systems.
>
> I haven't measured it but I think if the set up would use 30 watts
> continuously (only taking the always on systems into account) it'd be a lot.
> Of course it'll spike when I fire up the workstation.
>
> It's not extremely energy efficient but compared to some setups I read about
> it is. The next step would be to migrate to a plugcomputer or something
> similar (http://plugcomputer.org/).
>
> Any suggestions and ideas appreciated of course. :-)
>
> Thanks,
> Jeroen
>
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