Community Impact
Communities can be created within any space where people come together – leading to all kinds of closely or loosely connected group identities. These communities can emerge – knowingly or not – when we make decisions that impact other people.
When we build technology and create digital spaces, it can be easy to forget the affect we have our our physical world, from local communities to the garage we run the server out of. We leave our mark on the spaces left in our care and the reverberating effects of our personal decisions can felt by others.
Technology has been designed from the ground up to be abstracted, but we must not allow ourselves to lose sight on the fine details lost by the oversimplification of important complexity. Before we "break ground", we must take the time to seriously reflect on how our choices can affect those around us – both physically and digitally.
Ecosystems
Hardware can create digital spaces where we can operate without the limitations of reality. Despite this, hardware resides within the physical world and global ecosystems that we rely on. The choices we make for something as menial as self-hosting can affect us, our neighbors and every denizen of the newfound digital world.
Modern cloud computing infrastructure has staggering effect on our global ecosystems. By self-hosting, we can take responsibility for the stewardship of our environment.
Noise
Computers can be loud machines – especially when using older and unmaintained parts. There are several key components that can create noise pollution, a considerable distraction.
Fans
Computers can generate a great deal of heat that needs to be accommodated. Cooling components and reducing the ambient temperature within your computer case will require fans. Even when leveraging efficient water-cooling, fans are employed to keep the fluid cooled.
As fans become dirty and displace the lubricant, it is not uncommon for them to create whirring or buzzing sounds. These noises are signs of an underlying issue that needs to be proactively addressed through cleaning. When these issues are not addressed, fans can even begin to cause a grinding sound. Dirty fans not only create noise but make it difficult to keep your server cool.
Be mindful of where you're keeping an always-on server because it can affect not only your home but neighbors, too.
Hard Drives
Similar to fans, platter hard disks can have moving parts that create the occasional whirring, buzzing or clicking as the device operates. Constant noise coming from a hard drive can indicate an underlying hardware issue. When not addressed, this can escalate into grinding noises and the eventual destruction of the drive.
Speakers
Many computer systems have a built-in speaker to notify about hardware-level component, such as chirping during POST while starting the machine.
Light
Computer systems can have many sensor lights and indicators that are always on – sometimes even blinking incessantly. People may be sensitive to light or distracted by their constant activity when trying to sleep or maintain focus.
These lights are often embedded into the computer case or its individual components to visually communicate what the hardware is doing. This can include power status, disk access and network data transmissions.
Depending on the manufacturer, individual components may have decorative or programmable lighting modules. These cannot always be disabled. Case lights can potentially be unplugged or other wise disabled. If not, blackout patches and stickers can lessen the glow.
Disabling the power and disk indicators can make it difficult to troubleshoot your computer at a glance.
Vibration
Computer systems may vibrate during operation as a result of numerous moving parts. This can be exacerbated when placed on an unsecured surface like a table or shelf.
Most computer cases come with rubber feet to dampen this, but they can become lost or degraded over time. Placing a rubber mat beneath the server or adding fan dampeners can help.
Materials & eWaste
The piling effects of ewaste
Open standards and open parts allowing for the right to repair and the right to upgrade and build.
Hardware replacement and e-waste
Refurbishment - are you repurposing ewaste?
Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste.
The rapid exponential increase of e-waste is due to frequent new model releases and unnecessary purchases of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), short innovation cycles and low recycling rates, and a drop in the average life span of computers.[3]
Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants.
In electronics, refurbishment is the practice of restoring and testing a pre-owned electronic device so that it can be re-sold.
Refurbished electronics are therefore pre-owned electronic devices (usually smartphones, tablets, or laptops), that have been tested by a reseller to confirm that they are fully working.
Refurbished electronics may also be referred to as renewed, reconditioned, recycled, recertified, or "like new" electronics.
In many countries, the word "refurbished" is not legally protected. However, most refurbished devices have been rigorously tested to ensure they are fully working.
"refurbished" devices are distinct from "used" devices, where a "used" device is one where no repairs or testing have taken place.[2]
The 'Grade' or 'Condition' of a refurbished device describes how much wear and tear there is on the device.
Right to repair is a legal right for owners of devices and equipment to freely modify and repair products such as automobiles, electronics, and farm equipment. Right to repair may also refer to the social movement of citizens putting pressure on their governments to enact laws protecting a right to repair.[1]
Public Utilities
Heat and cooling
Computers generate heat. Some more than others. Single board computers are designed like cell phones to only require passive cooling without a fan. They make the components operate more slowly as needed in order to throttle heat production in order to cool the device. These computers can use add on cooling.
A server can heat a room, especially when performing high intensity operations like converting a video file. This can cause problems in summer and a boon in winter. It may even be necessary to cool the room during some months. It may be helpful to put the server in A basement. Computers cam operate better at lower temperatures than higher temperatures.
How do these compound? Cooling a server creates more noise and vibration than the server alone. The AC can itself create heat that needs to be directed.
Internet
How much Internet capacity your server uses will affect the other people in your home. If you are consistently using 30% of capacity, the remaining will need to be shared by all of your devices.
ISP are often promising you a theoretical connection that is based on everyone using an "average" amount of traffic. When someone greatly exceeds this, it can cause slowdowns for others on the network. This is especially noticeable during prime streaming, gaming and television times. Your ISP might throttle you if you go over or during peak hours
Power
Calculate the power draw based on the psu wattage
https://www.energybot.com/tools/energy-usage-calculator.html
You will also be paying for power for the router, modem and other networking devices
Data centers can consume up to 100 times more energy [10] than a standard office building.
How to compensate footprint
A router may consume 1KW[8] and a large data center consumes nearly 100 MW.[9]
A research study shows that in the US, 50% of PCs are left on overnight, resulting in an estimated annual energy waste of 28.8 billion kWh, and a cost of $2.8 billion per year.
By intentionally creating a localized server for our services, we can focus on ensuring our other computers
How might your power usage effect your neighbors, such as during a heatwave when ACs are running or the winter with heaters? How is the infrastructure at handling this?
Checking where your regional power comes from