If I started F@H today, how much should I expect to pay every month on my electric bill?

Right now I'm paying about $100 a month. I leave the computer on 24/7 but it goes to standby when I'm not using it.

I know that it really depends on many factors, but I'm looking for a ballpark figure.

Around $10/mo I guess. Probably less. It could be a bit more or a lot less... it really depends!

Keep in mind they're burning fossil fuels to provide you with that electricity. It's not only about money. So make sure you've got an efficient computer and that this Folding thing is worth the damage.

There have been other threads about whether or not F@H does any good, so I would read those first. It would be best to get an opinion from a bio-chemist if you know any (or know someone who knows one). I asked two of them that I know, and both thought F@H was a waste of time and resources.

I talked to two of my friends and they say it's useful, so I guess it's a draw If Ozkar is choosing to fold, I'm sure he/she has good reasons to do so.

Welcome to the team Ozkar !
Your electricity usage will depend on your hardware. And if you have hot components, you can always turn down the heat a couple of degrees in the room the computer is in. That can partially compensate your electricity usage for folding.

[EDIT : rephrase]

Figure ~ $1/Watt/year for any device left on 24/7/365.

So, if your PC uses 120W when folding, that's $10/month. If it's a laptop that draws 60W, then $5/mo.

Dollar energy prices have increased quite a bit in the last few years...

Of course, those estimates are for fairly low to mid-power PC's. If you're folding with a Core i7-980X and 3x GTX 580, I'd hate to see your power bill.


An extra watt would equate to 8.76 KWh/year for 24/7 operation. If you figure $1/watt/year, that's 11.4 cents/KWh. That should be around the national average in the US. Actual rates could be higher or lower depending on location.

I think the average electricity rate in the USA is ~12 cents / kWh. If a typical computer uses 100-160Wh/hour then that is 2.4-3.8kWh / day = 29-46 cents per day. That's $106-168 per year total energy cost. Keep in mind that if you use your computer anyway for say 4-12 hours a day anyway; then you need to account for the fraction of time that is added by running your computer full time.

Also, you do not need to run your computer full time, to do Folding. If you do not run the SMP client, then the deadlines do not require you to.

Do these friends have PhD's in bio-chemistry? Did you distinguish F@H and Folding in general? If they still think it is useful, did you ask them if F@H is the most energy efficient way to do Folding?

It's about 20 cents in NY state. It used to be under 15 cents before "plateau oil" (or whatever happened in 2005). I don't know the rates in NY city but I wasn't expecting someone living there to want to run a distributed computing app on an unusually powerful PC.

Lol, that sounds around the same as in CA (20 cents/KWh). One reason most computers I build are designed to have low power consumption. So far, the Core i3's my fave for energy efficient systems.

According to my electric bill (for the month of December):

Delivery 430 kWh @9.1558¢/kWh
Supply cost @12.9279¢ per kWh

That makes it about 22¢ per kWh.

Now, I'm measuring the power consumption of my new computer, and when all 4 cores/8 threads are loaded, the power consumption goes to 190 Watts.

How does that translate into moolah?

190w load usage @22 cents per kWh translates into 4c per hour of full load.

If you'd leave it folding while you sleep that's 8h = 32c per night times 365 days gets you 116,80 US$ in a year.

If you'd leave it folding for another 8h a day where you don't use the PC and it would otherwise go to standby, just double that.

Here's the average cost of electricity by state:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/electricity/epm/table5_6_a.html

thanks for the links !
20$ a month isn't too bad for 200W of power 24/7/365 !

If you run F@H at times other than cold winter months, then you also have to factor in the cost of air conditioning to cool your living space for the extra heat generated by you PC running at high utilization.

Boy, Hawaii has killer electrical costs. I wonder if it affects the type of builds people do there? It m ust.