Folding Forum

I just got an idea! The only question is, "is it possible?" "Is there a way to convert snow into electricity?" If it is, that would be good during the winter.

Kiore does have an idea though and so does Zagen30. The only thing is, how many people would be needed to pedal their brains out to create enough electricity to keep enough computers running? Either that or if enough people could get employed for this idea, it could be a new electricity producing system. It could be a cheaper way to produce electricity and still make enough money for a little profit while employing alot of people who have lost their jobs while there will be no real experience required and people will be able to stay in shape while making money.

Snow on mountain melts each spring, becomes water, runs down mountain in to river, river has hydro electric dam. Snow = Juice.

And Zagen is promoting a future like in The Matrix. We're all just batteries...

And though the price of full sized solar panels is coming down, and rebates have gone up, they are still very exspensive to the average Joe. You sould start collecting all those old unwanted calculators on the cheap. Rip out those little solar cells that run the calculators, and chain them together to run your PC. Also get a DC powered PSU. No need to convert DC to AC and then back to DC to run your PC. Very inefficient.

Solar panels that produce multiple KW are expensive and do require equipment that can do something with the (perhaps excess) power that's generated at noon and still allow you to use power from some other source at midnight. Calculator panels or the small ones that you can buy at your hobby store are even more expensive in $/Watt but 7im's idea allows you to use them without extra equipment. Run it in parallel with the 12v supply and as long as the solar output never exceeds what your equipment uses, it will reduce the power draw from the wall.

For $100, you can buy a panel that produces a maximum of 6.5 Watts during the brightest times of the day so it might produce ~25 Watt-hours per day depending on how many hours of sun I have. Here in Southern California, electricity costs between $0.035 and 0.25 per KWh so if I assume an average rate of, say 0.11 then I might actually save $2.50 per day. That means it could pay for itself in relatively short order. These are very rough numbers and I could easily have made a mistake (if so, please correct me). All I need is something that draws more than 6.5 W off a 12v rail plus adequate protection from the hazards of inappropriate use of electrical connections.

Reality check. (aside) I think 7IM was joking about the calculators.

Much depends on where you live and what you pay for power.
Best case payback in five years.
Worst case, never.
Much of the US, 15-25 years and only then with heavy tax breaks and artificial supports.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_jo ... ?nav=RSS20

Payback period: The Energy Information Administration lists average U.S residential electricity prices at 11.23 cents per kwh, as of February 2009. A panel that puts out 250 kwh a year saves $28.08 annually at that price, making the payback period just under 18 years on a $500 panel. (The rebate, which everyone receives, lowers the payback period from over 25 years at $717 or 28 at $787) In San Francisco, the top-tier electricity rate is 44 cents per kwh, shortening the payback period to just under five years.

Drawbacks: Variable power output. Less sunny climates can produce less than the 250-kwh-a-year average. Less than a quarter of the sunlight hitting a panel converts to electricity.

7im wrote: And Zagen is promoting a future like in The Matrix. We're all just batteries...

100010100101001010101001010100101! The human has seen through my plan!

At first I started with small proteins, but now I need more, MORE, MORE!

mdk777 wrote:

I don't think even hundreds of thousands of people could generate an appreciable amount of energy compared to the amount we consume, but if you leave out the details it sounds pretty good, no?

It's a pretty simple calculation really.
World class athlete, TOUR DE FRANCE, = 1/3 Horse power.
Average person = .1 Horse power or 75 watt.

So, even assuming loss-less conversion from say: biking to generator to battery to computer. (True conversion losses would probably exceed %50)
You would need to Work out for 3 hours to run your computer folding for 1 hour. ( 225 watt is what my computer uses folding SMP )

I don't think I could work out for more than 3 hours a day.
Hence my folding would be reduce from 24 to 1 hour a day. (realistically 0 because I don't have three hours a day to exercise)

There is a reason that animal/human power has been supplanted in the modern world.

This is where a human farm would come in handy. Actually, it would kinda resemble a Gym - all those bikes/cross trainers etc....

k1wi:
This is where a human farm would come in handy. Actually, it would kinda resemble a Gym - all those bikes/cross trainers etc....

Exactly my thoughts, with perhaps shorts bursts of 'electrical encouragement' to the pedallers who do not maintain suitable RPM, the loss of current from this 'stimulus' would easily be regained from the increased effort encouraged by it. This feature could be turned off once effort programming is fixed.

kiore.

I've got some dogs that could use more exercise ! And My Wife could use a bit too !
I could open a GYM and secretly tap their sweat for ... More Folding Power ... Mua HA Ha ha <cough> ha ha <wheeze> ha

Adam A. Wanderer wrote:It's probably cheaper to use more efficient CPUs and chips. I upgraded to an Intel i7 four core, eight thread and a good EVGA motherboard, and my production went up in huge amounts. I hope future F@H programs take full advantage of multi-core/thread systems. My production should go up even more then.
F@H _must_ always be in "increasing" project if we're ever to be able to attach the word "solved" to the protein folding problem.
Hopefully, future engineers and designers will be able to get more computing power from less and less watts. Perhaps even our wireless notepads and readers will fold while we sleep and they recharge.
But, who wants to speculate what the next five or six decades of advances will bring in computing power, or what results the F@H project will bring?

Yes but what about rehab for folding addicts?
You sound like you got it bad increased doses eh?
kiore.

Adam A. Wanderer wrote:Yes, pretty bad, but not beyond one PC running 24/7, which is what most addicts use. I'd like to buy a huge building (if I were rich), and stock it with the very best computers/servers and a truly broad band system, all devoted to doing nothing but folding at home. Or, if I was a multi-zillionair, I'd donate an "ultra" computer to F@H plus support funding. But, I'm poor.
All I can do is wait and hope F@H wins the Nobel Prize in my lifetime (are we getting any closer).

Oh it starts with just one PC running 24/7 then when you've overclocked and filled all the PCIE slots, you think "well just one more system.."
Next stage is when the stats don't update, you start getting stomach cramps and weird twitches..
Then you use Fahmon and HFM to monitor..just in case.
Final stage is.. ummm haven't got there yet will let you know..

kiore.

I have definitely become an addict. First it was just my PS3, since I didn't know about the PC clients. When I found out about them, it first expanded to an SMP client on my laptop, then sticking some AGP 3850's in some old desktops we had lying around (the CPUs, although P4's, are crunching away as well), and it culminated in me building a computer this summer that, although I do use it as my main computer, was basically built for F@h. I've overclocked just about everything I could, and even dug up an old laptop with a mostly-dead screen to chip in (that was mainly for the science, not the points, as 240 PPD isn't much for me). I've considered buying the best P3 ever made to stick in a really old computer of mine that doesn't do much, reasoning that the $10 I'd spend wouldn't be a complete waste. I killed my good laptop trying to swap out its processor for one that was 200 MHz faster. I can no longer look at a computer without mentally assessing its folding capabilities.

Zagen30 wrote:I have definitely become an addict. First it was just my PS3, since I didn't know about the PC clients. When I found out about them, it first expanded to an SMP client on my laptop, then sticking some AGP 3850's in some old desktops we had lying around (the CPUs, although P4's, are crunching away as well), and it culminated in me building a computer this summer that, although I do use it as my main computer, was basically built for F@h. I've overclocked just about everything I could, and even dug up an old laptop with a mostly-dead screen to chip in (that was mainly for the science, not the points, as 240 PPD isn't much for me). I've considered buying the best P3 ever made to stick in a really old computer of mine that doesn't do much, reasoning that the $10 I'd spend wouldn't be a complete waste. I killed my good laptop trying to swap out its processor for one that was 200 MHz faster. I can no longer look at a computer without mentally assessing its folding capabilities.

Thank you for sharing that with the group

Know what you mean about the assessing everything for its folding potential, in process (has taken 4 months) of getting ADSL connected (nearly there) and when I bought the router with 4 ethernet and 1 wireless connection was wondering if I should get the one with 8 ethernet ports..
kiore.

Adam A. Wanderer wrote:I hope someone, somewhere, is keeping records of all the posts/responses as well as all the project records of when the project started . . .

I don't know anything about what sort of a storage system is applicable to the project's internal records, but I do know that this forum does almost nothing in the way of thread pruning . . . it's all still there and searchable . . . since this site was started (although the server on the first generation site crashed and a lot of that older data is rather difficult to get to.

By the way, there are several international projects which are building permanent records of the entire internet. One that I used recently is at the library in Alexandria, Egypt.

FAH,

Sorry group I’ve relapsed I somewhat;

Ok, Ok, I may have over specked my new laptop, just a bit, a little bit. Ok, Ok so I ended up spending £100 more than I could really afford. But the need was to great.

But, But, well, you see, I needed the power and the new 45nm Tec, it just runs cooler. After all I was moving from the UK to Australia, and, well, it’s just hotter I Perth so you see, i “just” needed it. No I do I really do.

See I’m cured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next time I will show restraint, No really, I will!

I promise, Scouts honour.

Ash