• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • IBM Seeks Organic Solution to Power Systems Challenge, Global Warming

    December 16, 2008 Alex Woodie

    IBM and a team of Harvard university researchers launched a new initiative last week to develop and deliver power systems that utilize more efficient solar technology. The Clean Energy Project–the newest project to join the World Community Grid–seeks to tap into the computing power of millions of idle PCs and servers to crunch scientific data in the hopes of speeding the discovery of organic chemical compounds that have better electric properties than silicon, the main–but inefficient–ingredient in today’s solar panels.

    Current silicon-based solar cells are only about 20 per cent efficient and cost about $3 per watt of electricity generated, according to IBM. Researchers are developing a newer form of solar cells that are built with plastic at the core, which is more flexible, lighter in weight, and less expensive to make. If a sizable breakthrough could be made in solar technology, people would be more inclined to invest in solar energy, and the world could reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and the global warming that many fear is the result of burning fossil fuels.

    It would take us about 100 days of computational time to screen each of the thousands of compounds for electronic properties using traditional computing methods, says Alan Aspuru-Guzik, the principal investigator and a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard. “Yet with World Community Grid’s free computing power, augmented by cloud computing, the project is estimated to complete in two years. It was estimated to have taken 22 years to run on a regular scientific cluster.”

    IBM already has more than a million computers hooked into the World Community Grid, representing more than 413,000 members across 200 countries. The grid has been used to search for answers to many pressing problems since it was launched by IBM in late 2004, including researching cancer, AIDS/HIV, climate change, human proteins, agriculture (specifically rice production), and various viruses, including dengue fever, hepatitis C, West Nile fever, and Yellow fever.

    The client-side software that processes work units and coordinates results with the World Community Grid was developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Unfortunately, IBM Power Systems servers will not be able to assist in the search for more efficient power systems.



                         Post this story to del.icio.us
                   Post this story to Digg
        Post this story to Slashdot

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags:

    Sponsored by
    Maxava

    Migrate IBM i with Confidence

    Tired of costly and risky migrations? Maxava Migrate Live minimizes disruption with seamless transitions. Upgrading to Power10 or cloud hosted system, Maxava has you covered!

    Learn More

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Sponsored Links

    PowerTech:  Incorporating real-time security events from the System i into a security program
    Safedata:  FREE White Paper - IBM iSeries Recovery Options: An Executive Guide
    COMMON:  Join us at the 2009 annual meeting and expo, April 26-30, Reno, Nevada

    IT Jungle Store Top Book Picks

    Easy Steps to Internet Programming for AS/400, iSeries, and System i: List Price, $49.95
    Getting Started with PHP for i5/OS: List Price, $59.95
    The System i RPG & RPG IV Tutorial and Lab Exercises: List Price, $59.95
    The System i Pocket RPG & RPG IV Guide: List Price, $69.95
    The iSeries Pocket Database Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Developers' Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket SQL Guide: List Price, $59.00
    The iSeries Pocket Query Guide: List Price, $49.00
    The iSeries Pocket WebFacing Primer: List Price, $39.00
    Migrating to WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    iSeries Express Web Implementer's Guide: List Price, $59.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Development Studio for iSeries: List Price, $79.95
    Getting Started With WebSphere Development Studio Client for iSeries: List Price, $89.00
    Getting Started with WebSphere Express for iSeries: List Price, $49.00
    WebFacing Application Design and Development Guide: List Price, $55.00
    Can the AS/400 Survive IBM?: List Price, $49.00
    The All-Everything Machine: List Price, $29.95
    Chip Wars: List Price, $29.95

    Admin Alert: The Dangers of User Profiles with Privileges Two A-maze-ing Programs

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Volume 8, Number 45 -- December 16, 2008
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Bytware
Maximum Availability
Seagull Software
ARCAD Software
Twin Data

Table of Contents

  • IBM Adds ‘Rich UI’ Design Tool to Rational Business Developer
  • Original Bolsters Support for Java, Mainframe in Testing Tool
  • Development Horror Stories Surface as Aldon Unveils Turkey Award Winners
  • Tick, Tock: mrc Unveils ’24-Hour Challenge’
  • IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café
  • CA Enhances Web Services Interoperability in Plex 6.1
  • Security Outlook Poor as 2008 Winds to Close
  • Video Rental Chain Taps Inovis for VAN
  • ACOM Unveils Secure Laser Check Printer
  • IBM Seeks Organic Solution to Power Systems Challenge, Global Warming

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • POWERUp 2025 –Your Source For IBM i 7.6 Information
  • Maxava Consulting Services Does More Than HA/DR Project Management – A Lot More
  • Guru: Creating An SQL Stored Procedure That Returns A Result Set
  • As I See It: At Any Cost
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 19
  • IBM Unveils Manzan, A New Open Source Event Monitor For IBM i
  • Say Goodbye To Downtime: Update Your Database Without Taking Your Business Offline
  • i-Rays Brings Observability To IBM i Performance Problems
  • Another Non-TR “Technology Refresh” Happens With IBM i TR6
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 27, Number 18

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2025 IT Jungle