[rig666]

I had a friend recently tell me about how his excess power is put back into the grid and how he hopes our area sees negative rates eventually like this.

My cynical side was quick to point out that I would fire up my crypto miners if electricity was free for a few hours a day. After talking to him more I realized we both had different take aways from the story of "the tragedy of the commons" I lightened the conversation up by informing him he could do folding from home for a few hours to make sure his excess power went to a noble cause & thwart my zero sum approach.

[kelnos]

> I would fire up my crypto miners if electricity was free for a few hours a day

I dunno, if electricity was free only for a few hours, I would use it to charge batteries, and then use that stored electricity later in the day when it's not free.

If electricity was free most or all of the time, and/or if I could store more than I could use, then sure, I'd probably use it for unnecessary things that some might consider wasteful (not crypto mining; I'm allergic).

[jimbobthrowawy]

If the price swings were frequent and steep enough, you could probably have your batteries send power back to the grid when the price gets high.

I doubt the economics work, but I'd love to live in a world where a lot of the grid's battery storage is based on backup batteries people have at their houses with the added bonus of reducing their billing costs.

[Damogran6]

My aging mind can't remember the actual facts but it was determined that when someone has significantly more power than they had a need for (say, full batteries and a whole lot of solar) that it opened up interesting behaviors. We try hard to be as efficient as possible, but when you don't have to, it leads to interesting stuff. (like leave the lights on, leave the windows open with a space heater next to you, etc.)

[stoperaticless]

Name for it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

[kypro]

I was told that in Russia nat gas is so cheap that they keep the heating on 24/7 and will often just open windows to regulate temperature. No idea how true this is and whether it just applies to offices / apartment complexes but this is what I was told.

[SoftTalker]

Yes, mine is when I'm at a hotel I set the AC much cooler than I would at home, and I take really long showers.

[djmips]

Is Folding a good use of computing resources and power? Do they have any wins?

[countvonbalzac]

Is folding at home still relevant after alpha fold?