Talking About Green

[An excellent demonstration of how we can use alternate sources of energy to power cyber-infrastructure. However we have to be careful if use human power for such activities because the calories we burn ultimately depend on our diet, which in the western world can have a large carbon footprint. An individual walking 2 km whose diet consists of steak and potatoes can leave a larger carbon footprint than driving an automobile the same distance. Thanks to John Krienke for this pointer. Some excerpts—BSA]

http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/01/22/Green-Supercomputing.aspx?recipid;=&Page=1

Green Supercomputing

Energy-efficient system drives climate modeling for U Maine computer science professor
In the process of building a grid that will allow users–including members of the public–to manipulate scientific models through a Web portal, Phillip Dickens, a computer science professor from the University of Maine, discovered he could go green with the choice of supercomputer he needed for the job. In fact, to demonstrate how low the energy requirements of a supercomputer could be, he enlisted members of the university’s bicycle team to power it with their pedaling.

The demonstration, captured in the video below, shows a group of stationary bicyclists on one side of the room and a monitor displaying a glacial model on the other side. “This system–with a ridiculously small amount of power–was still doing world-class calculations,” said James Bailey, marketing director for SiCortex, the company that makes the brand of supercomputer Dickens purchased.

The Search for the Right Supercomputer

Dickens’s search for a computer wasn’t quick. It began when he received a $200,000 grant in 2007 from the National Science Foundation to purchase a supercomputer upon which to run the Scientific Grid Portal for accessing his university’s computing resources.

Dickens spent a year researching what system to buy. He wanted to get a supercomputer that wouldn’t require dedicated resources to maintain and that would fit within his relatively modest hardware budget. “It takes a lot to put another supercomputer into the current facility. I didn’t want to do that,” he said. “I didn’t want to worry about how to pay for maintenance.” Plus, the institution was pushing to make the campuses as green as possible, and a traditional supercomputer purchase wouldn’t necessarily satisfy that goal
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