Paul’s musings

Years ago, I preferred the alternative operating systems. When the world was hooked on MS-DOS, I was running Amiga Workbench. When Commodore went belly up, I spent a brief moment with DOS and Windows 3.1, but soon moved on to OS/2 Warp 3. I preferred these alternatives because they seemed to offer much greater value for my money. By and large, the alternatives were more stable, had more features, and had better overall performance. The only drawback has been the lack of hardware (and, to a lesser extent, software) support, which is actually a pretty big deal.

By the end of the 1990′s, Windows wasn’t too bad, and I often found myself needing to run Windows-specific software.  As such, I decided to bite the bullet and go mainstream.  Over the past decade, I dabbled with various Linux distributions, including Red Hat Linux and Ubuntu; but for one reason or another, I always went back to whatever the current version of Windows was.

Recently, my son’s NetVista needed a new hard drive.  It came with Windows 2000, but those install disks are long gone.  Wanting to provide him with something more up-to-date, I decided to install the latest Ubuntu.  I was impressed at how quickly and easily it installed, and how it configured the drivers properly for his hardware.  Having plenty of hard drive space on my Windows 7 notebook, I decided to install it alongside Windows 7.

At first, I was impressed.  The performance is excellent, everything is solid.  The value I expect is definitely there.  I downloaded WINE, and found that I could run the Windows applications I needed to run for my business.  Downloading and adding software packages was a breeze with the Ubuntu Software Center.  Evolution was every bit as good as Microsoft Outlook.  The boot up and shut down times were stellar.  Microsoft, as well as Apple, should be afraid of this free OS.  No wonder there’s good deals to be had on Windows 7 these days.

Sadly, there’s a downside; and it’s the same story as always.  I have specific hardware I need to use for my business.  I need to use my Canon scanner to scan in documents and convert them into a pdf; I also need to use Tectite software which controls a DG700 module via USB.  Neither of these work with Ubuntu.  I could replace my scanner with a Linux friendly model (though it would also need to be super compact and powered by the USB connection), but there’s no suitable replacement for the DG700.  Ah, it brings back the good old days of OS/2 Warp.  Just because you can run the software doesn’t mean you can run the hardware controlled by the software, and sometimes being able to use a particular piece of hardware is all the justification one needs in their choice of operating system; especially when one’s career depends on it.

My verdict?  Ubuntu is an excellent operating system; I’d recommend it highly for anyone who wants something powerful, easy to use, up to date, loaded with features and value, and don’t need to use odd hardware.  As for me, I’ll leave it on its partition for now, and see if things don’t improve.

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There are two mottos that go hand in hand. The first is, a dollar saved is two dollars earned. The other is, the cheapest watt of energy is the watt not used. Of course, we need to spend money and use watts of energy to enjoy life; but it’s often the case that we end up unknowingly waste energy that we never get to use for our benefit, and spend money to buy that wasted energy. One such source of waste is something called Phantom load.

Phantom load is the power modern electronic devices use while plugged in and powered off.  Not every device uses phantom load; for example, a common table lamp consumes no power when it’s switched off.  Phantom load comes from devices such as modern televisions, DVD players, and power transformers.  For example, the power transformer in my battery charger draws 3 watts of power continuously, even when it’s not charging batteries.

To illustrate the full impact of Phantom load, consider the following setup I have in my basement:

A modest, somewhat dated entertainment system

This rather modest system consists of a standard picture tube TV, DVD player with an amplifier and surround sound speaker system, a VCR, and a videogame console.  There is also a videotape rewinder and a signal converter between the DVD player and the TV.  This sort of setup can probably be found in many homes across Canada, either as a primary entertainment system, or as a secondary system in the basement for the kids.

Power meter

To start, I connected everything to a power bar, and connected that to a watt meter.  First order of business was to take some readings while the system was in use.

The amount of power fluctuated depending on what I was doing.  If I was just watching TV at a reasonable volume level, the power would typically fluctuate between 70-80 watts.  If I was watching a DVD movie with the surround sound turned up to a reasonable level, it would fluctuate between 120-130 watts.  It would be safe to assume that using this entertainment system would cost 100 watts of electricity to run.

Meter reading phantom power

Next, I turned everything off and checked the power meter reading.  Even with everything powered down, it still read 20 watts of power was being consumed.

What does this mean?  It means that having everything turned off in standby mode consumes as much power in 4-5 hours as I would just watching the TV for one hour.  In a 24 hour period, it would be as though it was on for approximately 5 hours even if left off.  Over a week, it’s similar to approximately 35 hours of use, even if it’s never been turned on once!

What does this mean, in terms of cost?  Let’s suppose this entertainment system does nothing but gather dust for an entire month consisting of 30 days.  That’s 20 watts * 24 hours * 30 = 14,400 kilowatt hours.  At 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour, that works out to approximately $1.35.  There’s your dollar, plus change, saved.

This is just one example.  Phantom load exists all over my home.  A more modern flat screen TV with a Blu-ray player, amplifier, DVD recorder, all consume 30 watts in standby.  That’s $2.03 added to my bill.  Add in a modern desktop computer, which is still sipping 4 watts even when powered completely off, the powered off but still plugged in computer speakers drawing 3 watts, a battery charger which is also drawing 4 watts while not charging anything, the TV in the bedroom drawing another 8…it all adds up.  Before you know it, you could easily be looking at $6-$7 a month, or $72 to $84 a year.  If we consider a dollar saved is two dollars earned, that’s potentially $168 a year.

This is only half the story.  The rates will not stay at 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour for much longer.  In New York State, the rate is around 20 cents per kilowatt hour; in England, it’s 50 cents.  The reason why electricity in my area is so cheap is because it’s subsidized.  It won’t be that way forever.  So, consider that same modest setup, burning 20 watts all day, every day while powered off.  The true monthly cost would be anywhere between $2.88 and $7.20.  Add in the rest of the parasitic power, and we’ll be looking at anywhere between $175 to $438 a year (or $350 to $876 of actual earned dollars).  That’s when things are going to really matter.

The trick is to get into good habits now.  I have everything connected to an inexpensive power bar, which means when that’s turned off, everything really is off.  I don’t leave battery chargers plugged in, and I look for alternatives to phantom power devices whenever I can.  That way, I’ll be saving smaller dollars today, and will be ready to save bigger dollars when the rates start to climb.

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