Hi there :)

I think it's a good choice to use old systems for BOINC/GRC instead of throwing them away if they are still functioning properly. In general, we should try to use products as long as possible to get the most out of their life-cycle. However, energy consumption is something to think about imho - as long as most power plants still rely on non-renewable energy.

The motivation here is not to brand miners with old systems, it's more about creating awareness regarding the source of resources used in the computations. Gridcoin could easily become a "green coin" if we can find viable solutions.

Many coins out there are simply "burning energy" with no real application. GRC is already one step ahead thanks to the symbiosis with BOINC. So it wouldn't just be great for marketing, it would also have a real world benefit in different areas.

One first step could be to have serious discussions about solar powered systems, guides to help interested users set up the needed infrastructure, etc. This would turn old systems into "green" systems - at least in theory. I think it's worth discussing and do some calculations.

Since you have old systems running, it would be interesting to see how they perform, how much power they consume, etc. - basically a full efficiency analysis and maybe there are way to tweak these systems further? It would be interesting to find out. And if it turns out there is nothing we can do to further optimize older systems, at least we have lots of data for other people to compare their systems with.

What I'm currently looking for is a way to determine which CPU/GPU is the most economical, yet most powerful out there. This could help build "greener" systems. There will be an article on this in a few weeks as well, so our input would especially welcome :)

Regarding your switch idea: awesome! If you haven't submitted it yet, I'll mention it in slack for sure!