# Cost & Energy Tracking

*Tracking expenses and power consumption*

---

## Overview

This document tracks the ongoing costs and power consumption of the homelab infrastructure.

---

## Hardware Costs

### Initial Investment

| Item | Purchase Date | Cost | Notes |
|------|---------------|------|-------|
| Synology DS1821+ (Atlantis) | 2023 | $1,499 | 8-bay NAS |
| Synology DS723+ (Calypso) | 2023 | $449 | 2-bay NAS |
| Intel NUC6i3SYB | 2018 | $300 | Used |
| Raspberry Pi 5 16GB | 2024 | $150 | |
| WD Red 8TB x 6 (Atlantis) | 2023 | $1,200 | RAID array |
| WD Red 4TB x 2 (Calypso) | 2023 | $180 | |
| Various hard drives | Various | $500 | Existing |
| UPS | 2023 | $200 | |

**Total Hardware:** ~$4,478

### Recurring Costs

| Item | Monthly | Annual |
|------|---------|--------|
| Electricity | ~$30 | $360 |
| Internet (upgrade) | $20 | $240 |
| Cloud services (Backblaze) | $10 | $120 |
| Domain (Cloudflare) | $5 | $60 |

**Total Annual:** ~$780

---

## Power Consumption

### Host Power Draw

| Host | Idle | Active | Peak | Notes |
|------|------|--------|------|-------|
| Atlantis (DS1821+) | 30W | 60W | 80W | With drives |
| Calypso (DS723+) | 15W | 30W | 40W | With drives |
| Concord NUC | 8W | 20W | 30W | |
| Homelab VM | 10W | 25W | 40W | Proxmox host |
| RPi5 | 3W | 8W | 15W | |
| Network gear | 15W | - | 25W | Router, switch, APs |
| UPS | 5W | - | 10W | Battery charging |

### Monthly Estimates

```
Idle:     30 + 15 + 8 + 10 + 3 + 15 + 5 = 86W
Active:  60 + 30 + 20 + 25 + 8 + 15 = 158W

Average: ~120W (assuming 50% active time)
Monthly: 120W × 24h × 30 days = 86.4 kWh
Cost:    86.4 × $0.14 = $12.10/month
```

### Power Monitoring

```bash
# Via smart plug (if available)
curl http://<smart-plug>/api/power

# Via UPS
upsc ups@localhost

# Via Grafana
# Dashboard → Power
```

---

## Cost Per Service

### Estimated Cost Allocation

| Service | Resource % | Monthly Cost | Notes |
|---------|------------|--------------|-------|
| Media (Plex) | 40% | $4.84 | Transcoding |
| Storage (NAS) | 25% | $3.03 | Always on |
| Infrastructure | 20% | $2.42 | NPM, Auth |
| Monitoring | 10% | $1.21 | Prometheus |
| Other | 5% | $0.60 | Misc |

### Cost Optimization Tips

1. **Schedule transcoding** - Off-peak hours
2. **Spin down drives** - When not in use
3. **Use SSD cache** - Only when needed
4. **Sleep services** - Use on-demand for dev services

---

## Storage Costs

### Cost Per TB

| Storage Type | Cost/TB | Use Case |
|--------------|---------|----------|
| NAS HDD (WD Red) | $150/TB | Media, backups |
| SSD | $80/TB | App data, DBs |
| Cloud (B2) | $6/TB/mo | Offsite backup |

### Current Usage

| Category | Size | Storage Type | Monthly Cost |
|----------|------|--------------|---------------|
| Media | 20TB | NAS HDD | $2.50 |
| Backups | 5TB | NAS HDD | $0.63 |
| App Data | 500GB | SSD | $0.33 |
| Offsite | 2TB | B2 | $12.00 |

---

## Bandwidth Costs

### Internet Usage

| Activity | Monthly Data | Notes |
|----------|--------------|-------|
| Plex streaming | 100-500GB | Remote users |
| Cloud sync | 20GB | Backblaze |
| Matrix federation | 10GB | Chat, media |
| Updates | 5GB | Containers, OS |

### Data Tracking

```bash
# Check router data
# Ubiquiti Controller → Statistics

# Check specific host
docker exec <container> cat /proc/net/dev
```

---

## ROI Considerations

### Services Replacing Paid Alternatives

| Service | Paid Alternative | Monthly Savings |
|---------|-----------------|------------------|
| Plex | Netflix | $15.50 |
| Vaultwarden | 1Password | $3.00 |
| Gitea | GitHub Pro | $4.00 |
| Matrix | Discord | $0 |
| Home Assistant | SmartThings | $10 |
| Seafile | Dropbox | $12 |

**Total Monthly Savings:** ~$44.50

### Break-even

- Hardware cost: $4,478
- Monthly savings: $44.50
- **Break-even:** ~100 months (8+ years)

---

## Tracking Template

### Monthly Data

| Month | kWh Used | Power Cost | Cloud Cost | Total |
|-------|----------|-------------|------------|-------|
| Jan 2026 | 86 | $12.04 | $15 | $27.04 |
| Feb 2026 | | | | |
| Mar 2026 | | | | |

### Annual Summary

| Year | Total Cost | kWh Used | Services Running |
|------|------------|----------|-------------------|
| 2025 | $756 | 5,400 | 45 |
| 2026 | | | 65 |

---

## Optimization Opportunities

### Current Waste

| Issue | Potential Savings |
|-------|-------------------|
| Idle NAS at night | $2-3/month |
| Unused services | $5/month |
| Inefficient transcoding | $3/month |

### Recommendations

1. Enable drive sleep schedules
2. Remove unused containers
3. Use hardware transcoding
4. Implement auto-start/stop for dev services

---

## Links

- [Hardware Inventory](../infrastructure/hardware-inventory.md)
- [Backup Strategy](../infrastructure/backup-strategy.md)