IBM, Harvard tap compute cloud for solar research

Harvard University and IBM have launched a project to harness the computing muscle of thousands of computers to discover cheap solar energy materials.

The initiative, announced Monday, is part of the IBM-sponsored World Community Grid, which seeks to speed up research on humanitarian challenges with a grid of connected computers.

The idea is that people and organizations donate computing time to these efforts. A grid server doles out tasks to disparate machines to speed up computational jobs.

IBM also said that it will test running the grid software on an internal compute cloud to tap idle time.

Existing World Community Grid projects are aimed at developing a more nutritious rice as well as conducting cancer and AIDS research. The Harvard project wants to test the chemical properties of a number of organic materials with the aim of determining which are most promising for use as solar cells.

An example of organic solar cells. Konarka makes the plastic cells in a roll-to-roll printing process. Because they are flexible and relatively cheap to make, they can be used in tents, solar chargers, or even clothing.

(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks)

The advantage of organic solar cells is that they are much cheaper to manufacture than traditional silicon and are flexible and lightweight. Some kinds can make electricity with a broader spectrum of light, including indoor light.

On the other hand, these cells aren't as efficient at converting light to electricity and they degrade more quickly.

By parsing out the the computing research across several computers, Harvard researcher Alan Aspuru-Guzik said that the project can be completed in 2 years. Using a traditional supercomputer cluster to run the analysis would take 22 years.

"It would take us about 100 days of computational time to screen each of the thousands of compounds for electronic properties without the power of World Community Grid," he said in a statement.

The World Community Grid is tailored to public and nonprofit organizations but IBM has a number of projects in solar and the energy business.

Its commercial research group has three solar-related programs, including the development of thin-film solar cells from CIGS (a combination of copper, indium, gallium, and selenide) and technology to manufacture solar concentrators.

IBM is also very active in developing smart grid software and services for electric utilities.

[Benlofton]

Sounds intresting, I'd like to see where this goes whenever it is complete.

[Manhattan2]

IBM and Harvard are looking to the cloud for the answers but they are 5-10 years too late. The cloud is only as good as the data and applications that connect over this cloud. The Manhattan 2 Project has been working on Cloud Solar for years. We own the domains and we own the data. Our cloud is a private cloud. If IBM wants in lets us know. Our cloud of data and more importantly scientists and engineers has created a Renewable Energy Program that makes sense. This cloud everyone talks about is simply shared computer processing. Human ingenuity can never be put into this cloud but humans can analyze the data from this cloud. IBM or Harvard please email us at [e-mail] . Mitch Govansky.

[3rdalbum]

One thing you have to be aware of before joining World Community Grid is that some of the distributed computing projects might compromise your ethics. You don't get a say in what projects your computer works on (at least, you didn't last time I checked). This is why I ended off doing Folding @ Home.

[dbargen]

"A grid computing project led by Harvard will seek to analyze the properties of organic materials that can be used... to make electricity."

It's called coal, morons!

[jemiller0]

dbargen, you are a clueless idiot. People like you are why our country is as screwed up as it is. Too many idiots that's why.