Energy Utilities


Could 135,000 Laptops Help Solve the Energy Challenge? D


epartment of Energy Supercomputers to Pursue Break- throughs in Biofuels, Nuclear Power, Medicine, Climate Change and Fundamental Research


U.S Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced the


largest ever awards of the Department’s supercomputing time to 57 innovative research projects - using computer simulations to perform virtual experiments that in most cases would be impos- sible or impractical in the natural world. Utilizing two world- leading supercomputers with a computational capacity roughly equal to 135,000 quad-core laptops, the research could, for ex- ample, help speed the development of more efficient solar cells, improvements in biofuel production, or more effective medica- tions to help slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease. “The Department of Energy’s supercomputers provide an


enormous competitive advantage for the United States,” said Secretary Chu. “This is a great example of how investments in innovation can help lead the way to new industries, new jobs, and new opportunities for America to succeed in the global marketplace.” The projects include both academic and commercial re-


search, including partnerships with companies such as GE and Boeing to use sophisticated computer modeling in the develop- ment of better wind turbines and jet engines. Specifically, the Department is awarding time on two of the


world’s fastest and most powerful supercomputers -- the Cray XT5 (“Jaguar”) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the IBM Blue Gene/P (“Intrepid”) at Argonne National Laboratory. Jag- uar’s computational capacity is roughly equivalent to 109,000 laptops all working together to solve the same problem. Intrepid is roughly equivalent to 26,000 laptops. The awards include nearly 1.7 billion processor hours on the


Department of Energy’s advanced supercomputers - the largest total ever -- reflecting both the growing sophistication of the field of computer modeling and simulation and the rapid expan- sion of supercomputing capabilities at DOE National Laborato- ries in recent years. Awarded under the Department’s Innovative and Novel Com- putational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) pro- gram, many of the new and continuing INCITE projects aim to further renewable energy solutions and understand of the envi- ronmental impacts of energy use. The program, open to all sci- entists, is supported by the Department’s Office of Science and managed by the DOE Leadership Computing Facilities at the Department’s Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, which host some of the world’s fastest supercomputers. INCITE program goals include:


„ Illuminating the roles of ocean, atmosphere, land, and ice in climate change „ Advancing materials for lithium air batteries, solar cells, and superconductors


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„ Understanding how turbulence affects the efficiency of aircraft and other transportation systems „ Designing next-generation nuclear reactors and fuels and extending the life of aging reactors „ Developing fusion energy systems „ Improving combustion in fuel-efficient, near-zero-emissio- ns systems


„ Exploring carbon sequestration Projects were selected on a competitive, peer review basis


and evaluated for computational readiness. Selected projects were chosen for their potential to advance scientific discover- ies, speed technological innovations, and strengthen industrial competitiveness and for their ability to make use of hundreds of thousands of processors to work in concert to do so. More than half of the projects are led by university researchers, with the remainder of the awards going to government and industry scientists and engineers. Several awards - from improving battery technology to bet-


ter understanding Parkinson’s Disease - are profiled below in brief summaries.


Simulating Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease Principal Investigator: Igor Tsigelny, University of Californina - San Diego Researchers will use the Intrepid supercomputer to learn


more about Parkinson’s disease and explore ways to treat it. As the second most common neurological disorder in adults, the personal and economic impacts of Parkinson’s disease are enormous. Through computational modeling, the research team will study various mutations of the disease. These find- ings will provide a test bed for identifying possible healing interventions for treating the disease and could halt the pro- gression of Parkinson’s as well as other similar conditions.


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