An article in our local press says a new data centre is using the power equivalent to 70,000 homes. Seems incredible. I wonder how much power saving there is from our little Pi based projects.
My Pi 4 based NAS project must be saving some power because it does not need a fan. The small size lets me use an open case with natural air flow.
The disks are the same. Ethernet is the same. Modern WiFi can use less power if all connected WiFi is at the same level and the software supports the lower power settings. Bluetooth has the most power efficiency improvement but only at very short distances.
The processor uses less power when compared to an Intel N100 but not much less than the new generation N150. The little NAS boxes I used had ancient silicon hot enough to use in a toaster.
If a billion houses switched to modern tech, how much power would we save?
Lots of people switched from using their notebooks to using their smartphones which should save power but many use induction charging with half the charging power wasted.
LED LCD screens saved power compared to the palaeolithic backlighting in the ancient LCD screens my great grandparents used. But now screens are five times the size which means they use more power.
My next project will replace a six year old notebook with a Pi 4. The notebook does have a battery working as a UPS and there will be no equivalent in the Pi version. The notebook was replaced when the screen and battery started to fade. It is now used as a test server for a new project. When the notebook battery finally dies, the Pi 4 replacement will be an exact equivalent using slightly less power. A small win for the environment.
My Pi 4 based NAS project must be saving some power because it does not need a fan. The small size lets me use an open case with natural air flow.
The disks are the same. Ethernet is the same. Modern WiFi can use less power if all connected WiFi is at the same level and the software supports the lower power settings. Bluetooth has the most power efficiency improvement but only at very short distances.
The processor uses less power when compared to an Intel N100 but not much less than the new generation N150. The little NAS boxes I used had ancient silicon hot enough to use in a toaster.
If a billion houses switched to modern tech, how much power would we save?
Lots of people switched from using their notebooks to using their smartphones which should save power but many use induction charging with half the charging power wasted.
LED LCD screens saved power compared to the palaeolithic backlighting in the ancient LCD screens my great grandparents used. But now screens are five times the size which means they use more power.
My next project will replace a six year old notebook with a Pi 4. The notebook does have a battery working as a UPS and there will be no equivalent in the Pi version. The notebook was replaced when the screen and battery started to fade. It is now used as a test server for a new project. When the notebook battery finally dies, the Pi 4 replacement will be an exact equivalent using slightly less power. A small win for the environment.
Statistics: Posted by peterlite — Mon May 25, 2026 11:47 pm
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