After 15 years - high energy cots in Europe
21 Oct 2022 20:32:19 UTC
Topic 228423
(moderation:
How are other people in Europe doing with distributed computing at the moment?
I've been on Einstein@home since 2007 and now it looks like I'll have to stop crunching because energy prices multiplied by 5 since February and keep going up. At home I already had to stop the computer a long time ago, at my office I still can crunch but it looks like with the end of the year I completely have to shut down because otherwise I pay more for electricity than rent.
Makes me feel sad, I really like the feeling of contributing to science and being part of a bigger project. And that my computers don't use their computing power for only 1-4 hours a day and but really do something for their money and energy that went into producing them. I preferred to heat with the computers in winter, it always was more expensive than gas or other means of heating but my thinking was if the produced heat is not only keeping me warm but also used for something meaningful it's a win win situation.
Even tough I haven't been very active in the forums I feel like sharing this now to cope with the sadness of the seemingly unavoidable. It doesn't look like some miracle is going to happen...
B.I.G wrote: How are other
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I am very sorry to hear this but may have some ideas for you to at least prolong the time before you actually stop crunching...maybe stop crunching during the day when it's warmer and only crunch at night, maybe stop using your gpu's to crunch and focus just on cpu tasks instead are two off the top of my head right now.
I really hope you can find a way to keep crunching but understand that sometimes difficult choices must be made.
mikey
B.I.G wrote: How are other
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Why do you have to stop completely? Just cut way back. The tasks I get don't have to be reported for two weeks. The ones I'm doing now take around 7 to 8 hours each. So I could just get one task and take two weeks to complete it. Sure it isn't a lot but it's still contributing and saving electricity compared to what I'm doing now. Just cut way back and still contribute a bit.
Processing work units with "outdated" (according to Microsoft) Ryzen 7 1700
mikey wrote: maybe stop
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Thank you very much for the suggestions. The problem here is how the system works: you pay according to what you have used the past year a fixed amount every month. If this year you used less you get a refund at the end of the year, if you used more you'll have to pay extra. Price increases go according to what you have used in the past.
Now you can call the power company and ask them to charge you according to the current usage and they'll do that but then you are stuck with that. Now at my office I fortunately have an power provider that has fixed prices until the end of the year, but nobody knows what's coming after that. So one month before that guarantee ends I'll have to cut down to an absolute minium, there is no room for any extra usage at the moment.
To give you a perspective. You pay for the grid and for the electricity provider, in January 2022 that was about 8 cents for the grid, and 7 cents for the electricity so 15 cents / kWh. In April this went up to 35 cents, now we are at 72 cents (with still only 8 cents for the grid) and prices will keep going up, nobody knows how high. And you can't even change power providers because every except the most expensive ones refuse to take new clients. Now if your current provider goes out of business the state by law will give you a new provider so you don't end up without power. But you can't influence where you end up and could get the most expensive one, they charge 1.4€ / kWh at the moment. Which would mean that running my current workstation would cost me 500€ / month in electricity. Even if I do only CPU crunching it could still be 250€ / month just for that one computer. Or not, nobody knows, at the moment all signs point to further increasing prices. If things go well, maybe it's just one month not crunching anything but it doesn't look like it. That even just the possibility to pay 1.5$ / kWh exists is insane.
HAL wrote: So I could just
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Thank you, that actually does work yes. Just giving the GPU one WU to crunch per day while I'm on the machine anyway or something like that... yes that can work :)
Yeah, sorry to hear that.
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Yeah, sorry to hear that. Same here, now paying over 500 a month to keep the lights on. I'm stocking on sweaters and blankets and have cut back considerably on the crunch time as well. We may not realise it, but with the thumbscrews on like that, we are basically at war. And after being so masterfully outmanoeuvred with OPEC raising the prices, we're losing it as well. Wishing you all strength and warmth for the coming months!
E pluribus unum
Any chance that you get a
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Any chance that you get a photovoltaic device installed on your balcony so as to produce power on your own?
Year,the pricebomb in Germany
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Hi,
yeah,the pricebomb in Germany/Europe ist going to explode,it will become much worse.
I for myself have only one computer 24/7 running,because he´s monitoring my weatherstation,the second computer is only running on the weekend,when I´m working with the weatherdata.
I´m glad I´ve made the step and setup solarpanels on the house and I do have a battery to safe the power.
But it is to small (no money left,maybe another battery next year) to pull energy in the house in the dark times (like now,autum/winter).
Many people in Germany I know do want to buy solarpanels now,but they are expensive,too and we have to wait long for that kind of things.
I´m excited to see how things will look like in the next years.
Yeah, the front of my
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Yeah, the front of my apartment faces south, unfortunately only living room windows. But it might still be an option. Especially while at work, sacrificing a window isn't an issue.
E pluribus unum