On Friday 08 April 2005 22:32, Ryan Malayter wrote: > [Keith Alexander] > > > So now, I guess the question becomes: would the > > price-per-barrel of oil > > (and thus gasoline) come down if we stopped > > this distributed-computing Mersenne Prime search foolishness? > > A very small portion of electrical power in the U.S. is generated by oil > - it's too expensive. The vast majority of U.S. oil consumption is for > transportation and manufacturing. > > 2003 numbers for electric power generation: > 51% Coal > 20% Nuclear > 16% Natural Gas > 3% Oil > 10% Renewable (Hydro+Solar+Wind+Geothermal) > > Source (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html) > > So Prime95 may impact the price of coal or uranium, but probably not > oil...
Not so - oil is expensive in the US because of the demand from transport - coal, nuclear and renewable powered automobiles and aircraft are _very_ thin on the ground, and natural gas powered transport isn't much more common. Adding electricity consumption thus increases the demand for coal, forcing its price up. Eventually (quite quickly, acyually) the point is reached at which oil becomes economically attractive for electricity production, so oil prices start to rise dur to extra demand too. That there already is a market for electricity from oil indicates that the price structure is relatively balanced. Though crude oil prices have risen rather rapidly since 2003! HOWEVER there are extra factors to consider: 1) If you are going to add extra heating to replace the waste heat from computers running Prime95, Prime95 is neutral in terms of energy use - however much extra energy is consumed by the computers. However, if you are running air conditioning to dump excess heat, the effect of the extra power consumption is multiplied. 2) If you really want (or need) to reduce power consumption, switch the systems off. Leaving them idling is a waste of energy and processor cycles! Most users will find that switching off their monitor when not in use saves more than the extra power used by running Prime95. Even if they have a LCD monitor. 3) Power consumption by computers is a very small fraction of total power consumption. If you really want to save power, cut down on unneccessary travel, wear extra clothes instead of heating your home above 15C and swap your SUV for a light, compact, diesel-engined automobile. 4) In global terms, the cost of electrical power production is hardly an problem. Carbon dioxide emission possibly is. In this respect there is little to choose between fossil fuels; nuclear power stations emit more CO2 through their construction and eventual decommissioning than they save during their operating lifetime; the CO2 construction costs of "renewable" sources are also far from negligible, and they mostly need backup to cover unfavourable weather - geothermal & hydro is probably the best bet but opportunities are governed by geography and usually in the wrong place. Regards Brian Beesley _______________________________________________ Prime mailing list [email protected] http://hogranch.com/mailman/listinfo/prime
