Power consumption

I am thinking about folding again. However, I am a little bit concerned about power consumption. I've seen some references to $1,000+ electric bills (elsewhere) but those people were probably running serious farms...

Anyhow, I was wondering if any of you have noticed any increases in your electric bill since you started folding?

I was running 3 boxes almost full time from mid August to mid September. One doesn't have a monitor. I would turn off the other 2 monitor's if I wasn't using them.

Our bill went up $20. But keep in mind it was still the end of A/C season too.

This was when I began to wonder why was I running single core units at all. I don't think 1 machine with a quad core will raise the bill too much.

But I have been more aware of not leaving lights and the TV and stereo on.

WOW - I couldn't imagine a residential light bill that high.

Seriously though the average computer has less than 1000W Power Supply. A small space heater running on high has a rating of 1500W, this is nothing compared to an electric furnace. I don't see the power bill for a single PC regardless of the hardware inside going much higher than it would for someone using a space heater.

I guess if the folding farm is big enough you wouldn't need a space heater or a furnace.

I had my 2 computers on all night even before I started folding and I don't notice any increase in power consumption between then and now that I do Folding on 1 of them.