alt.energy.homepower

On Sep 13, 4:18 pm, beal...@ wrote:
> On Sep 14, 1:46 am, drydem wrote:
>
>
> > Solar PC: Turning Sunlight into Computing Power
> > Frank Volkel. September 6, 2007
> > (1st in a series of 3 articles of powering a PC via solar panels)http:/=
/ /2007/09/06/technical_foundations_diy_sola...
>
> > an overview of solar panel technology and industry
>
> > Do-It-Yourself Solar-Powered PC
> > By Bert T=F6pelt ... September 13, 2007 10:36
> > ( 2nd in a series of 3 articles of powering a PC via solar panels)http:=
// /2007/09/13/hardware_components/
>
> > Using readily available components an AMD
> > Athlon 64 X2 BE-2350 motherboard
> > desktop using 61w on idle and 115W on
> > full duty cycle/load.
>
> > The final article will cover a step-by-step
> > description of a solar-powered energy
> > collection and storage system.
>
> Is this supposed to impress people. I and many others have been
> running our computers off solar power for years.
>
> I think you may have missed the boat.-


Tom's Hardware normally focuses on computer performance. They opted
out of using a notebook which are designed from the top down to be
more
energy efficient because it was less of a challenge and they wanted
to make something with more computing power. This is the first time
I can recall them addressing computing energy efficiency.

My gut reaction was that the full electrical load
of 115w is a tad excessive but Tom's Hardware Group
wants a very fast workstation and they're willing to
build a bigger solar array system to accomodate it.

Yet ISTM if I'm out in the middle of nowhere with
a computer running on batteries and a few
solar panels - I would be thinking more than twice
about wasting any of precious battery power
on anything more than the basics like
internet, email, word processing, and a
power grid monitor. I'm expecting that the cost
the electrical storage system is about half the
cost of a solar panel system.