2/15    How many watts does a typical desktop (not counting monitor)
        use when it is completely idling (top shows at most 1-2% CPU),
        assuming normal SATA HD, video card, 2-4G RAM?
        \_ Google did a published study where they determined that the
           largest consumer of energy in a computer is the power supply
           itself. Figure that if you have a 400W power supply you are
	...

5/18    I'm looking for a good rechargeable AA battery system. What do you guys
        use? I'm thinking of getting a bunch of AA NiMH and a really good
        charger that can do a full drain/recharge cycle to reduce memory
        effect as well as battery tender since NiMH seems to lose 10% charge
        per week, or AA Li-Ion with normal chargers. What do you guys think?
        \_ http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html
	...

3/3     Photos of weather stations...badly placed weather stations.
        http://www.norcalblogs.com/watts/weather_stations
        \_ Oh, so global warming is just caused by concrete?  I'm so relieved!
           All those dumb scientists ought to read angry guy's blog!
           FYI, you may wish to read realclimate's "no man is an urban heat
           island" entry:
	...

10/9    So this whole plugin hybrid campaign thing...  Wouldn't that completely
        fuck the CA power grid if even a few % of drivers bought those?
        \_ the real issue is not rather CA power grid can handel it.
           I was told that if we modify it to make it plugin, it will
           drastically reduce the life span of the rechargable battery of those
           Prius, thus make the car a lot more prohibitive than it would
	...

6/14    I'm in S Cal and LA Dep of Water and Power charges me approximately
        $1.00 per 10KWH (KWH is 1000 watt hours). I don't watch TV at all,
        but my computer's on all the time. Suppose I do get a TV,
        and suppose I watch TV 4 hours a day and the TV is rated at
        300W, how much does that contribute to the cost?   -cheap ass
        \_ Look for a product called "Kill A Watt", it's about $29.
	...

5/11    I bought a few expensive LED lightbulbs. Comments: when they say
        an LED is equivalent to X watts incandescent bulb, it's marketing
        bullshit. In reality, it's more like X/2 or X/3. LED bulbs may
        save you a lot of energy, but they're simply not that bright.
        Secondly, they look very very unnatural. With incandescent bulbs,
        you get various frequencies and things look natural. With LEDs,
	...

3/5     If an appliance is 220V, can I get an adapter or something for it
        because I have 120V? Thanks.
        \_ A transformer, yes.
        \_ I had a similar problem.  You need to be very careful about
           the actual wattage of your appliance.  A transformer that withstands
           large wattage tend to be very very big (size of couple bricks and
	...

3/6     So where can I get a 120V->220V adapter? I'm thinking about buying an
        induction stove which is rated for 3000W at 220V 60Hz.
        \_ in this case, i would strongly approach this with a different route
           than getting a transformer.  3000 watts is too serious of an
           appliance for a 3rd-party transformer.  Most of new household has
           one or two 220volts sockets somewhere mostly for air conditioning
	...

3/1     Say I have a circuit breaker that says 20A. How many watts can I load
        on it before it pops? I'm asking because every time I have a space
        heater (1500W) and hair dryer (1850W) on, the circuit breaker pops.
        \_ P = VI  where P is power in watts, V is voltage in volts, I is current
           in amps (A).  Wall socket voltage is a max of 120V in the USA and is
           220V-240V in some places elsewhere.  Can you figure it out now or do
	...

2/18    Back in 2000 I bought a few 23W energy efficient bulbs that
        output 100W, and a few 16W bulbs that output 60W. The
        (output/energy used) ratio was about 4. Today I bought a
        few more bulbs from Walmart...  7W bulbs that output 40W,
        which has the (output/energy used) ratio of over 5.
        Are new bulbs getting more and more efficient?
	...