Good collection of interesting PSU topics. I especially liked the ACPI information. I have several comments and suggestions to change in the article though. I work in the PSU industry and can shed some light on a few issues.
On efficiency, most people leave out the fact that we tend to use air conditioning here in the USA a good part of the year. Here in the mid Atlantic, we tend to use A/C for about ~ 7 months annually. This adds a thermal penalty to any heat that you dump into the office/home air during those months. With most A/C systems, the cost to remove 1W of heat is an additional 0.5W of A/C power (50% overhead). Taking the above numbers and some rounding, I use an overhead rating of 30% total for any heat dumped into my home / office. So take your power loss numbers and multiply by 1.30 to get the total cost impact to your wallet. This also should be done for using CFL and LED lighting. They are not allowed to use A/C cost in their advertising, so the public does not get to see the true possible savings.
There are several types of UPS systems that you should write about. The one you outlined is called a double conversion unit, which is always processing the power to give a clean regulated sine wave output. These are the least efficient and most expensive though. Double conversion is always taking the AC input, making DC, and using a PWM inverter to make regulated AC again for the output. Double conversion efficiencies are typically around 88-90% efficient, so this can impact you total system efficiency and operational costs. A cheaper UPS is the standby type, which allows the raw utility power to go straight to the load with some light duty surge clamping in between. When the input power voltage goes out of bounds, there is a switch over that is usually around 4-8msec which is faster than the PSU hold up time of 20msec. Since normal operation is straight pass through, the usual efficiency is close to 100% (minus the UPS internal power needs and charging). Note though that some UPS systems are crap and can use upwards to 100W just being plugged in.
I did not follow your discussion on the alarm buzzer indicating overcharge, which should never happen in any UPS. Most modern UPS system implement a battery test to make sure that the battery capacity and internal resistance is able to hold up the load. If the battery fails, they set off the buzzer. In almost all UPS systems, a buzzer alarm is critical - something is wrong. Some UPS systems also monitor the ground feed continuity and will alarm if the input feed ground starts to float making the UPS and the load unsafe to touch.
The UPS output waveforms are not all sine wave. Often the double conversion types are sine wave, adding to their cost. The standby UPS systems are usually step wave which is also called quasi-sine which is marketing term for step wave (to confuse the buyer). Most PC loads and monitors work fine with step wave (and are even more efficient on step wave!), although some PFC PSUs have problems. Magnetic loads can have real heartburn with step wave (motors, transformers) due to high losses and non-sinusoid voltage waveform effects.
Ferroresonant transformers are good voltage regulators, but the way they work is very lossy. A good ferro will only run around 90% efficiency. If your load is attached to a ferro, you are adding another power loss in your system. In my opinion, you are better off spend a few more dollars and getting a UPS (which there are ferro types still out there also).
There is no mention of oversizing your PSU also. Many HTPC and SOHO/home server needs are on 24/7 so power usage and efficiency are paramount to the cost of use / ownership. If you install an oversized PSU, you are taking a efficiency hit (for most brands) that increases your energy usage. The 80 Plus standards do not test below 20% load, so the efficiency of most PSU designs drop off quickly below 20% load. I have seen several that are below 50% with 10% loading. A good analogy on oversizing that I have used before is thinking about car engines. You cannot get a V8 car engine to run as efficiently as a 4 cylinder due to the physics (more friction/mass, etc.). That same effect occurs in a PSU. Larger magnetics, power devices, and other overhead lowers the efficiency at low power. proper sizing can save a good bit of money. Just don't get it too small, especially thinking about system start up (HDD spin up, fans, CPU local PSUs ramping up, etc.).
You comment on thermal shock is great, but there are many other factors to consider in reliability. Spinning down any HDD and fan loads reduces bearing wear for those mechanical parts. But keeping the main motherboard PCB powered and some operation continuing also helps with reliability. The minor amount of heat that is generated helps keep the PCB dry (PCB material is hydroscopic!), which one major part of the high voltage area in a PSU failing after a long storage (like right after purchase) causing a DOA. And as others pointed out in the comments, allowing the system to go into a sleep state will also cause a cool down thermal shock. The biggest problem with thermal shock is that it break solder joints and helps break bond wires/connections in ICs. It also speeds up electrolytic cap leaking and shortens the life. Does anyone remember the motherboard cap failure from a few years ago?
The absolute largest cause of computer failures is caused by ESD damage. The data from companies that keep statistics on this unanimously show this as a fact, but the PC enthusiast industry does not work to educate the end users of this well at all. In the electronics industry as a whole, ESD accounts for nearly 55-60% of all failures! This includes component suppliers, etc. So if you want a great topic for a future article, tackle ESD. It is real and it is very costly when ignored. Ever had a PC part that was DOA, i.e., that just "did not work at all" when powered up the first time and would not work at all? Good chance it was ESD.
Thanks for the article.