If PS3 Folding@Home worked miracles, people would still complain.

[Grimes]

Icyedge said:

Grimes said:
I'm not whining, but let's say your folding costs $30 year in energy. If you took that $30 and just donated it directly to the research institute, who is to say they wouldn't be able to make better use of those dollars? They could even buy their own PS3s if that was the best solution.

Someone will have to pay the 30$ electricity anyway. So even if you would give them 30$ it is still 30$ less.

You missed the point. The researcher is in a better position to decide what is the best utilization of resources. Energy may not be their biggest cost. Computing power is only one tool, not a solution to a problem.