The slap in the face came for me when I noticed a few months back that my monthly electrical bill was up to $91 a month. That was the sign I needed that I could not afford to do "distributed computer projects" many hours a month anymore.

You all have probably heard of these things. There is BOINC on the PC where you can get into Seti@Home, Rossetta@Home, etc and earn points for work done. You leave your PC or in the case of Folding@Home your PS3 on when your not using them for something else and you "donate" time to the projects. In reality the biggest donation you are making is electrical power.

Last summer my usage was over 1000 kwh three months in a row. June, July and August and almost September. A lot of this was due to running these projects. Its a double wammy trying to do this stuff in the summer since the devices put a lot of heat into the room, then you need to run the AC more. More power. Higher bill.

In February I cut back to almost no project time at all. When not being used the PC and the PS3 get shut off. When I am at work they are off, when I am asleep they are off. My power bill has been under 500 kwh 3 months in a row so far, could cut my budget by $30-$40. For those of you that wonder, if I ran my PC and PS3 24x7 for a 30 day month, my use would be this

PS3 = .300kw * 24hr * 30 days = 216 kwh

PC = .350kw * 24hr * 30 days = 252 kwh

TOTAL = 216 + 252 = 468 kwh

468 kwh if I NEVER shut off my PS3 or my PC. Thats before you factor in the fridge, the water heater and any AC you need to use.

It is ironic that you can get into a Climate Prediction project on BOINC to try to save the planet or find the reason for global warming when in fact all these PCs running 24/7 doing the work could be adding to the problems. More PCs doing this means more need for power. At some point there is a cut off to this. My came when my power bill was almost a 1/3 of my rent. Time for me to be green and stop wasting power.