I've been running WCG for maybe 9 months now on numerous computers. I have no idea if it will benefit the biomedical community, but I sure hope it will.

I don't see how a computer running 100% or running 2% (idle) are any different on power input. My power supply is still pulling in the same amount regardless. WCG or not, I never shut my computer off and never put it in any stand by or power save (because no computer ever seems to reliably recover from those).

The WCG Windows client (United Devices) is simple for casual users and causes minimal slowdown to the system. The cross platform client (Boinc) allows for running many different computing projects, allows remote management, allows multi processor and more. And there is an active community on the WCG forums to help with configuration, troubleshooting, deployment/management automation, etc.

During the summer, the CPU heat was a problem since some of my computers were in un-airconditioned spaces. Remotely, I was able to have them run only at night. Later, the ability was built in to throttle CPU usage to any percentage.

I am glad to use 100% of my CPU time toward a project which may have some potential. If I'm not using it, then it's wasted.