I find this an interesting argument, but I'd like to see some real
analysis (with numbers), or at least sources.
If you're right, I'm doing it wrong (3 old trucks (2 toyota
landcruisers, one 67 chevy converted to a flatbed) + selling new
computer components).
I don't see much evidence (in the US) for the post-consumer recycling
of vehicles.
And computers get replaced far more often. The newest car I own is a
1988 landcruiser. The other is a 1974. I can't imagine running
pfsense on a circa 1988 computer.
On Jun 27, 2008, at 11:28 AM, David Rees wrote:
On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 12:37 PM, Andrew Burnette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I had similar thoughts a while back. doesn't always work out the
way you
think. (e.g. toyota prius, while a politically and technologically
needed
car, actually saves no energy over it's lifespan due to the
enormous amount
of front end manufacturing cost and material used).
Trying to compare the total energy lifecycle of an automobile to a
computer is like trying to compare apples and oranges.
With computers, the vast majority of energy goes into the production
(~75%), not post production consumption (~25%).
With automobiles, the vast majority of energy goes into post
production consumption (~75%), not production (~25%).
So when buying a computer, you generally want to buy the one with used
the least amount of energy to produce it, and with an automobile, you
generally want to buy the one that uses the least amount of energy to
operate it.
Especially for a computer, it's important to try to re-use old
equipment as old computers typically get thrown away or possibly
recycled (partially, it's not easy to recycle electronics) when people
are "done" with them, but with a vehicle, this is less important as
your average vehicle will be resold as long as the repair/operating
costs are less than the value of the vehicle and only then will the
vehicle be recycled (generally over 90% of a vehicle by weight is
recycled).
took single board athlon desktop. Underclocked it as low as the FSB
would go
on motherboard, and lowered the CPU and ram voltages to near
minimum. Stuck
in a laptop hard drive (3.5-2.5 adapter about $5) and an 80%
efficient small
as heck power supply with 3 intel nic cards in the PCI slots.
Good idea - using an old computer and then reducing it's power
consumption as much as possible - was was the before/after power draw?
Still, these Alix boxes draw next to no power - we measured ours at
5-7w. The lower power PC we have is around 45w. You might be able to
get to 30w with a lower power Via CPU and flash or notebook disk and
an ultra-efficient PicoPSU (even 80Plus PSUs are very inefficient
below 50w). The Alix box is still a LOT better if it has the
horsepower you need - especially if you have to buy something new.
-Dave
