[6165] in Release_7.7_team
Re: Athena Video Monitor Power Save information for outreach
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robyn Fizz)
Tue Jan 13 20:19:56 2009
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Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:19:15 -0500
To: William Cattey <wdc@mit.edu>
From: Robyn Fizz <fizz@MIT.EDU>
Cc: Jonathon Weiss <jweiss@mit.edu>, release-team@mit.edu,
"Rao, Laxmi J" <lrao@mit.edu>
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Hi Bill,
Thanks for the clarifying edits. I've made a few more, strictly for
flow, not meaning. In the interest of time, I've posted the article
on the IS&T home page. If you or the release team have further
tweaks, I can make them tomorrow morning.
Best,
Robyn
At 1:47 PM -0500 1/13/09, William Cattey wrote:
>Summary:
>
>1. Please say, "enabled power save mode" rather than "disabled screen saver".
>
>2. "watts" without a per hour or any such thing is correct.
>
>3. The change affects ALL Athena desktop systems not just the 375 or
>so in clusters.
>
>4. Identifying broken Athena machines will be done by using
>existing, and some new remote monitoring tools, so trips to the
>clusters to check on systems will be largely eliminated.
>
>Suggested amendment to your draft (sorry for using plain text):
>
>---- Begin Draft 3 ----
>
>Historically, the video displays of Athena workstations never shut
>off. A screen saver with the Athena logo indicated an up-and-running
>system, while a blank screen meant a broken system. An operator
>could identify dead machines just by glancing into the room. When
>power saving became standard practice, Athena disabled the
>power-save feature, fearing that people would be too used to the
>Athena convention of blank monitor = broken workstation.
>
>However, the power consumed by even a low-power LCD display is
>significant - about 25 watts per monitor when idle but not in power
>save mode. To save energy and reduce costs, IS&T recently made the
>decision to re-enable the power-save feature. This change will save
>in excess of 90 MegaWattHours of electricity costing about $10,000
>per year, (assuming 25 watts per system, 900 systems, 10 hours idle
>time per day, and electricity cost of $0.11 per KiloWattHour.)
>
>The change to enable monitor power save mode was deployed on January
>13, 2009. IS&T hopes that Athena users will realize that a blank
>Athena screen no longer signifies a broken computer, but instead
>means that Athena has "gotten with the program." Athena monitors now
>behave like standard monitors and may need a move of the mouse or
>the strike of a key to wake up.
>
>System operators, rather than visiting the systems, will use remote
>monitoring to detect dead systems.
>
>---- End Draft 3 ----
>
>Further clarification:
>
>Re: Screen saver:
>
>It is inaccurate to say that we have turned off the screen saver.
>We haven't. In fact there are two different screen savers, one that
>wakes up on a logged in system when the user is idle, and one that
>wakes up when nobody is logged in. (Actually this is exactly the
>same thing you see on other computers. After X minutes the screen
>saver runs. After X + Y minutes, power save runs and turns off the
>monitor.
>
>The most accurate description of the change is that the power saving
>option for the X window system previously disabled on Athena has now
>been enabled.
>
>Re: Power consumption:
>
>"25 watts" is the correct unit of energy consumption. That is 25
>joules of energy every second. Just like a light bulb. A typical
>Athena monitor burns 25 watts to show a static image. Consumption
>can go up to 35 watts if the image is changing a lot. Typical power
>save mode consumes under one watt.
>
>Re: Savings:
>
>25 watts multiplied by 900 monitors multiplied by 10 hours of
>power-save time per day multiplied by 365 days in a year is
>82,125,000 Watt Hours per year.
>
>MIT's electricity cost is estimated at 11 cents per kilo-WattHours,
>so savings would be 82,125 kilo-WattHours multiplied by $0.11 per
>kilo-WattHour or $9033.75 per year.
>
>On Jan 13, 2009, at 11:39 AM, Robyn Fizz wrote:
>
>>Hi Bill,
>>
>>I've attached a revised news article for your review.
>>
>>I think in your original you went with 900 systems, so please let
>>me know the final number you'd like to go with. Also, please note
>>the questions about hours and how operators now figure out when
>>workstations are broken.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Robyn
>>
>>At 6:08 PM -0500 1/12/09, William Cattey wrote:
>>>The reason why I went with 800 systems was that I wasn't sure how
>>>many of those 950 were desktops, and how many were servers that
>>>wouldn't be affected by the change.
>>>
>>>-Bill
>>>
>>>On Jan 12, 2009, at 6:07 PM, Jonathon Weiss wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>Hi Bill,
>>>>
>>>>I actually had a similar conversation with Laxmi this afternoon when I
>>>>ran into her. I dredged up some of our old research and came up with:
>>>>
>>>>Assume 25W/monitor savings (conservative)
>>>>Assume 1000 workstations (actually 956 according to Dec. stats)
>>>>Assume 10 sleeping hours per day (conservative)
>>>>Assume 365 days per year :-)
>>>>Estimated power savings: 91.25MWh
>>>>Using Laxmi's (conservative) blended average cost to MIT of $0.11/kWh
>>>>Estimated cost savings: $10037.05/year
>>>>
>>>>Of course, we really only have 1-2 significant digits, but we can
>>>>reasonably say $10K/year!
>>>>
>>>>Even if we go with 950 workstations (which I don't think is strictly
>>>>required, since we wen't conservative on every other number there) it
>>>>ends up at $9500/year, and cover 85MWh.
>>>>
>>>> Jonathon
>>>>
>>>>>Robyn,
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks for the chat today, and for offering to help to get the word
>>>>>out. Here is a first draft of everything that could be said.
>>>>>Perhaps you can suggest some amendments to say it more succinctly.
>>>>>
>>>>>---- Begin draft ----
>>>>>
>>>>>On Tuesday January 13, 2009, Athena on Linux and Solaris enabled
>>>>>power save mode on its video monitors.
>>>>>
>>>>>Historically, Athena never shut off the video display. A screen saver
>>>>>with the Athena logo enabled an operator to identify dead machines
>>>>>just by glancing into the room. A blank screen meant a broken
>>>>>system. When power saving became standard practice, Athena disabled
>>>>>the power save feature, fearing that people would be too used the
>>>>>Athena convention, "blank monitor means dead Athena Workstation".
>>>>>
>>>>>The power consumed even by a low power LCD display is significant:
>>>>>We expect to save in excess of 75 MegaWattHours of electricity per
>>>>>year. (25 watts per monitor, 10 hours idle time, 900 systems, 365
>>>>>days.)
>>>>>
>>>>>We hope that Athena users will realize that a blank Athena screen no
>>>>>longer means a broken computer, but instead means Athena has finally
>>>>>"gotten with the program" -- that our monitors behave like standard
>>>>>monitors and may need a move of the mouse or the strike of a key to
>>>>>wake up.
>>>>>
>>>>>---- End Draft ----
>>>>>
>>>>>-Bill
>>>>>
>>>>>----
>>>>>Important: IS&T IT staff will *NEVER* ask you for your password, nor
>>>>>will MIT send you email requesting your password information. Please
>>>>>continue to ignore any email messages that claim to require you to
>>>>>provide such information.
>>>>>----
>>>>>
>>>>>William Cattey
>>>>>Linux Platform Coordinator
>>>>>MIT Information Services & Technology
>>>>>
>>>>>N42-040M, 617-253-0140, wdc@mit.edu
>>>>>http://web.mit.edu/wdc/www/
>>
>>
>>--
>>Robyn Fizz
>>News Coordinator
>>MIT Information Services and Technology (IS&T)
>>N42-290B
>>Phone: 617 253-0540
>>Fax: 617 258-6875
>>
>>Important! Do not give out your passwords!
>>IS&T will *never* ask for passwords or other personal information
>>via email.<AthenaScreenSaver2009.doc>
--
Robyn Fizz
News Coordinator
MIT Information Services and Technology (IS&T)
N42-290B
Phone: 617 253-0540
Fax: 617 258-6875
Important! Do not give out your passwords!
IS&T will *never* ask for passwords or other personal information via email.
