Développement durable : IBM franchit une nouvelle étape dans son engagement en faveur de l’environnement au moyen de partenariats publics et privés

SAN FRANCISCO - 23 juin 2009:

At a Green and Beyond Summit here today, IBM detailed new computing systems, research initiatives, sales results and partnerships aimed at meeting the rising demand by businesses and governments worldwide to reduce energy costs and consumption by optimizing their systems and resources, while at the same time becoming more accountable and socially responsible.

Speaking to an audience of more than two hundred energy experts and leaders from business, government, academia and the venture capital community, Rich Lechner, IBM vice-president for Energy and the Environment said that over the past few years, a new world has emerged – one with volatile energy supplies, more greenhouse gas awareness, global financial crises – that makes sustainable business practices a critical imperative for clients.

“Businesses, governments and people everywhere have expressed their desire to make more efficient use of energy and natural resources,” said Lechner. “They are investing in making systems intelligent by building smarter and greener buildings, IT infrastructures, supply chains, and other business operations, as well as utility and water systems. With today’s announcements, we signal our clear desire to partner with them every step of the way.”

New Partnerships - Green Sigma Coalition

IBM announced today the creation of an industry alliance with key leaders in metering, monitoring, automation, data communications, software and analytics to provide smart solutions for energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas management.  The coalition will enable companies using these solutions to better understand energy and water usage, waste, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across their business operations and make changes to improve efficiency, reduce consumption and waste, and lower environmental impact

Charter members of the Green Sigma^TM Coalition are Johnson Controls, Honeywell Building Solutions, ABB, Eaton, ESS, Cisco, Siemens Building Technologies Division and Schneider Electric. The coalition members will work with IBM to integrate their products and services with IBM’s Green Sigma^TM solution.

Green Sigma^TM is an IBM solution that applies Lean Six Sigma principles and practices to energy, water, waste and GHG emissions throughout a company’s operations -- transportation systems, data centers and IT systems, manufacturing and distribution centers, office facilities, retail space, research and development sites. It combines real-time metering and monitoring with advanced analytics and dashboards that allow clients to make better decisions about energy and water usage, waste and GHG emissions to improve efficiency, lower costs and reduce environmental impact.

“It is becoming increasingly important that we use energy more efficiently both to better utilize the resource and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Dr Richard L. Sandor, Chairman and Founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange. “We are encouraged that the results of these types of collaborative efforts between public utilities and industry leaders like those promoted by IBM are providing energy and water solutions that are efficient and environmentally responsible.”

New Research Innovations for Cooler, Greener Data Centers and Next Generation Electric Energy Storage

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), and IBM today announced plans to build a first-of-a-kind water-cooled supercomputer that will repurpose excess heat for the university buildings. The innovative system, dubbed “Aquasar”, is expected to decrease the carbon footprint of the Institute by up to 85%, which is equivalent to 30 tons of CO₂ per year, compared to a similar system using today’s cooling technologies*.

With an innovative water-cooling system and direct heat reuse, the new “Aquasar” supercomputer, which will be located at the ETH and is planned to start operation in 2010, is expected to reduce overall energy consumption by up to 40%. The system is based on long-term joint research of ETH and IBM scientists in the field of chip-level cooling as well as on a concept for “water-cooled data centers with direct energy re-use” invented by scientists at IBM’s Zurich Lab.

The water-cooled supercomputer will consist of two IBM BladeCenter® servers with 22 Cell blades and 6 Intel® blades with Nehalem processor and will have a peak performance of about 10 Teraflops.

Since IBM Research first deployed Measurement and Management Technologies (MMT) in 2007, IBM has completed measurement of approximately 1.4 million square feet of client data centers worldwide. This work has uncovered 38 Million kWh of potential saving for IBM clients, the majority of which is achievable with little or no capital expense investment.

Recently, this tool was put to the test in conjunction with Southern California Edison (SCE) to address power and thermal management.

“Through a pilot project using this advanced technology from IBM Research, we were able help one of our large commercial customers reduce power consumption for its data center cooling by 10 percent,” said Lynda Ziegler, SCE senior vice president, Customer Service. “As one of the nation's leading utilities for demand response and energy efficiency programs, we are always interested in tools and partnerships that help address energy and environmental issues.”

Today, IBM is announcing the release of a new real-time version MMT 1.5 that extends the previous point in time measurements to now include monitoring of thermal efficiency on a continuous and dynamic basis.

IBM Research also unveiled a new long-term research initiative to spur the creation of next-generation rechargeable batteries capable of storing ten times more energy than today’s most powerful Lithium-ion batteries.  Eventually, this technology could power smarter energy grids, support widespread use of electric cars, and more.

Leveraging expertise in materials science, nanotechnology, green chemistry and supercomputing, scientists at IBM Research’s Almaden lab in San Jose, California, are undertaking a multi-year research initiative around a grid-scale, efficient, affordable electrical energy storage network. The team plans to explore rechargeable Lithium/Air systems, which have the greatest energy density of all practical battery systems and are inherently safer than traditional Lithium/ion systems.

Worldwide Clients Embrace Energy Efficient Designs from IBM

IBM today announced the completion of its 100th scaleable, modular data center (SMDC) to support the growing technology requirements of the world’s businesses and governments. IBM installed the 100th center on behalf of Columbia County, Georgia, and its agencies and citizens. Over the past two years, Columbia County had experienced outages due to inadequate power and cooling systems, highlighting the need to upgrade its existing data center infrastructure. In addition, the county’s population has grown 26 percent since 2000, increasing the demand for citizen services that are available 24 hours a day via the Web.

Following 2007 assessment of Columbia County’s existing IT infrastructure and its projected capacity requirements, IBM designed and implemented a modular architecture that enables the county to reduce power consumption and related energy costs, monitor power and cooling efficiencies and accommodate future growth. Located in Evans, Georgia, the renovated data center also provides increased redundancy – or availability – to eliminate outages and to improve the county’s delivery of services via Web applications.

“The county’s population growth has led to a steady increase in the use of government services and systems, which required us to strengthen the county’s IT infrastructure to meet future demand,” said Lewis Foster, IT Manager for Columbia County. “Working closely with IBM, we’ve been able to double the county’s IT capacity with virtually no increase in our energy footprint, thereby improving our efficiency and advancing our efforts to employ greener solutions.”

IBM has been instrumental in helping TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG) improve the power utilization (PUE) of its prime data center in Scarborough, Ontario. Additionally, TDBFG is relying on IBM expertise in building its new facility. IBM data center experts are playing a leadership role in the program management as well as providing advice in achieving LEED gold certification and an efficiency power utilization rating of 1.6.

“The availability of this service from an industry leader such as IBM is a smart complement to our energy reduction aspirations for our day to day operations. It also supports our goal of ensuring our Canadian operations are carbon neutral in 2010,” said Karen Clarke-Whistler, Chief Environment Officer, TDBFG. “The study allowed us to refine our PUE assessment and to list and prioritize a number of improvement opportunities. These items are now being worked on in order to improve the rating of our data center.”

TDBFG is also working with IBM to develop a mobility strategy covering all the technology, logistics, human resources and business issues associated with employees working remotely.  This would allow TDBFG to reduce the building space it occupies, significantly reducing GHG emissions associated with office activities.

In order to strengthen its position as the nation’s leading waste management company, Recology partnered with IBM to implement an energy efficient data center.  IBM conducted the design, construction and relocation of the data center, moving Recology’s San Francisco data center to a new more efficient and flexible infrastructure that allows for growth and the deployment of new technologies in their Sacramento site.  As a result, IBM helped Recology reduce annual power costs, while enabling Recology to effectively meet technology requirements of its expanding business – currently serving more than 600,000 residential and 60,000 commercial customers.  In addition, the solution delivers high IT availability, higher employee productivity and easier access to Recology's data and information.

“IBM engaged with us from the very beginning to understand our critical business needs and design appropriate solutions,” said Michael McLaughlin, director of information technology for Recology.  “IBM’s unmatched expertise to design, build, and upgrade a number of technologies in a four month time frame will certainly support our dynamic growth plans effectively.  It was truly a pleasure to work with IBM throughout this project.”

New Capabilities for Measuring and Managing Energy Usage and Costs

Following of the relocation of one of its data centers in the greater Cincinnati, OH area, The Kroger Co. wanted to determine the amount of electrical energy saved as a result of the move and consolidation. IBM played a major role in the design and placement of computer equipment within the new data center in order to maximize cooling and minimize power consumption. Kroger turned to IBM and Neuwing Energy Ventures for their expertise in documenting and validating energy savings derived through this relocation. All three entities worked together to measure and verify energy savings by adhering to regulatory and voluntary standards for Energy Efficiency Certificates (EECs). Kroger expects Neuwing to issue Energy Efficiency Certificates this summer that confirm the substantial energy savings Kroger achieved through this project. Each Energy Efficiency Certificate earned is a unique and traceable commodity that verifies the specific amount of megawatt hours saved.

In addition, Kroger is teaming with IBM on an energy management pilot designed to improve visibility and control of ongoing energy consumption of its IT and facilities infrastructure. The solution, which includes IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Energy Management, will be deployed at a data center in Greater Cincinnati to measure and benchmark energy and thermal metrics at the facility. Through this pilot, Kroger plans to extend energy management best practices to other areas of operation. Kroger cites the ability to leverage its existing investment in IBM hardware and software solutions, and the breadth of IBM's partner ecosystem as the key reasons it selected IBM for the pilot.

Jim Scott, Kroger’s Chief Technology Officer, said, “Partnering with IBM allows us to explore how many of our existing hardware and middleware solutions can be enhanced to help us achieve our corporate sustainability goals. IBM's commitment to developing a robust partner ecosystem reinforces our belief that IBM is the right partner to help us measure and manage energy usage and costs across our entire infrastructure.”

New Approaches for Managing Waste Water

IBM today announced it is collaborating with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) to help manage the city’s 1,000 mile-long combined sewer system and three treatment facilities, which helps reduce pollution in the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean.

Surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay, the city of San Francisco is in very close proximity to water. The SFPUC treats an average of 80-90 million gallons of wastewater during dry weather and during wet weather a peak of up to 370 million gallons of combined wastewater and storm runoff.

The SFPUC uses IBM Maximo Asset Management software to provide greater visibility into their maintenance operations and physical infrastructure. The software integrates with the city’s 311 and 28-CLEAN Customer Service systems. Both are dispatch centers that handle non-emergency problems, such as potholes, abandoned vehicles and sewer problems such as odors, loose manhole covers and overflowing storm drains.

“Using the IBM Maximo Asset Management software, problems are often solved within 24 hours,” said Tommy Moala, Assistant General Manager, SFPUC Wastewater Enterprise. “But the real value of the IBM software is the information it gathers so that we can improve the reduction of water pollution. For example, with some work order histories generated from the IBM software, we can see that we’ve rebuilt a pump, say, 10 times -- maybe it’s time to replace it. The software also helps us to reduce the cost of managing the system down to the component level.”

The SFPUC infrastructure includes wastewater treatment machinery, basins and piping including huge capital investments such as large-capacity lift pumps, dewatering centrifuges, belt presses, engine generators and a complex series of huge collection boxes—large basins strategically located throughout the city that capture storm water.

Today’s announcements are part of a two-fold approach by IBM to make its existing products and processes more efficient for both the environment and for business, while also developing new innovations that can accelerate the adoption of products and services that have lesser environmental impact.

For more information, visit: www.ibm.com/ibm/green/.

IBM crée la Green SigmaTM Coalition, une alliance d’acteurs clés de l’industrie, ayant pour but de concevoir et de promouvoir des solutions intelligentes pour une planète plus verte

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IBM Forms Green Sigma^TM Coalition; Partners With Metering, Monitoring, Automation, Communication, Software Leaders for “Green” Solutions

Collaboration for a Greener Planet

SAN FRANCISCO – 23 June 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) has created an industry alliance with key leaders in metering, monitoring, automation, data communications and software to provide smart solutions for energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas management.

Charter members of the Green Sigma^TM Coalition are Johnson Controls, Honeywell Building Solutions, ABB, Eaton, ESS, Cisco, Siemens Building Technologies Division and Schneider Electric. The coalition members will work with IBM to integrate their products and services with IBM’s Green Sigma^TM solution.

This will allow companies using these combined solutions to better understand energy and water usage, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions across their business operations and make changes to improve efficiency, reduce consumption and waste, and lower environmental impact.

“As we all work toward creating a greener, smarter planet, it is plain that none of us can get there alone,” said Rich Lechner, IBM’s vice president for energy and environment. “Through public and private partnerships, and with leaders across a range of industries and technologies combining and sharing our expertise and talent, we can create the solutions the world needs to conserve resources and address climate change.”

Green Sigma^TM is an IBM solution that applies Lean Six Sigma principles and practices to energy, water, waste and GHG emissions throughout a company’s operations -- transportation systems, data centers and IT systems, manufacturing and distribution centers, office facilities, retail space, research and development sites, etc.

It combines real-time metering and monitoring with advanced analytics and dashboards that allow clients to make better decisions about energy and water usage, waste and GHG emissions to improve efficiency, lower costs and reduce environmental impact.

IBM announced the Green Sigma^TM Coalition in support of its Green and Beyond Summit for Industry leaders in San Francisco today. The program includes panel discussions with key industry leaders and public officials on public/private collaboration for a greener planet, covering sustainability and energy management across business operations and demand reduction, incentives and compliance.

In addition to the Green Sigma^TM Coalition, IBM announced several other new or expanded relationships with key industry leaders, including:

•        Novell and Thunderhead have received Ready for IBM Energy and Environment validation for their software solutions. The program is designed to help IBM Business Partners validate, market and sell solutions bearing a unique mark that assures clients the product or service has been rigorously evaluated and demonstrated to reduce environmental impact based on real-world customer use.

•        IBM's validation process requires products and services to meet stringent criteria that address the reduction or use of resources such as energy, water and paper materials. Submissions are reviewed by the IBM Energy & Environment Review Board and IBM's Corporate Environmental Affairs group;

•        IBM and Cisco have integrated IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Energy Management and Cisco EnergyWise energy management solution. The new combined solution broadens the range of power consumption information and energy optimization policies that can be managed by IBM Energy Management solutions to help organizations discover, optimize, and report energy usage within their data center and business infrastructure.

•        And IBM and Honeywell will integrate Tivoli Monitoring for Energy Management with Honeywell’s EBI and Tridium offerings.

“NYSERDA has a longstanding partnership with IBM.  Together, we have invested over $15 Million for energy efficiency improvements to IBM’s New York facilities,” said Francis J. Murray Jr., President and CEO of the New York State Energy and Development Authority. “We are proud to continue that partnership with IBM and the Green Sigma Coalition as it designs effective energy efficiency and carbon reduction strategies for New York’s manufacturers, data centers and other businesses. As we develop statewide energy strategies, we see the problems and bottlenecks created by stand-alone solutions and disparate systems that cannot share information. We applaud IBM’s approach of sharing expertise and technology through industry collaboration with IBM’s Green Sigma Coalition and other public/private partnerships.  The coalition’s goal of providing customers with a unified view of their energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas emissions to enable overall efficiency and reduce environmental impact represents a significant advancement in the market.”

These new relationships support IBM’s “smarter planet” initiative, which envisions a world where everything is instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. This is essentially about using sophisticated technologies and business processes to set the right metrics and then collect and analyze information to make better decisions.

For more information about IBM’s commitment to providing Green and Beyond solutions, go to: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/green/index.shtml

For press information about IBM’s Green and Beyond announcements, please visit: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/27232.wss

IBM aide la ville de San Francisco à réduire la pollution de la baie et de l’océan Pacifique

Les logiciels d’IBM permettent à la San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) de mieux gérer le système des égouts et de traitement des eaux usées 

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IBM and SFPUC Team to Reduce Water Pollution in the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Implements IBM Software to Manage Wastewater and Sewer System

SAN FRANCISCO, June 23, 2009 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is using IBM software to help reduce pollution in the water that surrounds the city on three sides – the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.  

The SFPUC, which treats an average of 80-90 million gallons of wastewater per day during dry weather and up to 370 million gallons of combined wastewater and storm runoff per day during the rainy season, is using the IBM software to develop smarter management of the city’s 1,000 miles of sewer system and three treatment facilities.

Already, in the last year, the IBM software has improved the organization’s ratio of preventive to corrective maintenance by approximately 11 percent, meaning that the organization has been able to take a more proactive approach to maintenance, rather than fixing issues after they occur. This is how SFPUC is measured against industry standards.

The IBM Maximo Asset Management software gives the SFPUC greater visibility into their maintenance operations and physical infrastructure, with near real-time status of equipment and maintenance history. The software also integrates with the city’s 311 and 28-CLEAN Customer Service systems -- dispatch centers that handle non-emergency problems, such as potholes, abandoned vehicles, loose manhole covers and overflowing storm drains.

“Using the IBM Maximo Asset Management software, problems are often solved within 24 hours,” said Tommy Moala, Assistant General Manager, SFPUC Wastewater Enterprise. “But the real value of the IBM software is the information it gathers so that we can further reduce water pollution. For example, with some work order histories generated from the IBM software, we can see that we’ve rebuilt a pump, say, 10 times -- maybe it’s time to replace it. The software also helps us to reduce the cost of managing the system down to the component level.”

Along with IBM Maximo Asset Management software, the commission’s Wastewater Enterprise is using ArcGIS geographic information software from IBM Business Partner ESRI to locate and measure assets spatially.

For instance, the city was able to solve a problem of missing catch basin grates -- the heavy metal grates that keep large objects from falling into storm drains. IBM Maximo Asset Management software and ArcGIS revealed that all the incidents were located within a quarter mile of a scrap metal yard.

The SFPUC infrastructure includes wastewater treatment machinery, basins and piping including huge capital investments such as large-capacity lift pumps, dewatering centrifuges, belt presses, engine generators and a complex series of huge collection boxes—large basins strategically located throughout the city that capture storm water.

IBM has developed a number of smarter water offerings under its 'Big Green Innovations' initiative, part of a $100 million investment in 10 new businesses based on ideas generated during Innovation Jam, an IBM-led effort to gather ideas from thousands of clients, employees and thought leaders around the world. The Big Green Innovations team at IBM has concentrated its efforts on water management, alternative energy and carbon management.  

"Water management is an issue faced by every business, city and government on the planet," said Sharon Nunes, Vice President for Big Green Innovations at IBM. "We’re helping the SFPUC gain deep insight into the management of their water supply and usage so they can improve the quality of their water system while reducing the costs associated with removing the pollution, particularly in a big city like San Francisco."

SFPUC is also using IBM Cognos® 8 Business Intelligence software to pinpoint and report to management about trends such as the time required to get work orders, and the ratio of preventive maintenance to corrective maintenance.

For more information on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, visit: www.sfwater.org/home.cfm.

To see a video on SFPUC, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/SFPUCcommunications

More about IBM’s vision to bring a new level of intelligence to how the world works—how every person, business, organization, government, natural system, and man-made system interacts, can be found at:

http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26094.wss

For images, videos, and more information related to IBM and water, visit http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/26906.wss.

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Made in IBM Labs : IBM initie un projet de recherche à long terme sur la prochaine génération de stockage d’énergie électrique

Cette initiative vise à favoriser la création de la prochaine génération de batteries rechargeables, capables de stocker dix fois plus d’énergie que la plus puissante batterie Lithium-ion actuelle, afin d’alimenter des réseaux électriques plus intelligents et, par exemple, soutenir le déploiement à grande échelle des voitures électriques

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Made in IBM Labs: IBM Charges Up Research into Next Generation Electric Energy Storage

IBM Research Explores Battery Technologies to Further Electric Vehicle Adoption and Make Energy Grids More Efficient

San Francisco, CA -- June 23, 2009 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled a new long-term research initiative to spur the creation of next-generation rechargeable batteries capable of storing ten times more energy than today’s most powerful Lithium-ion batteries.  Eventually, this technology could power smarter energy grids, support widespread use of electric cars, and more.

In order to accelerate this initiative, IBM Research will gather many of the top minds in science, industry and technology at its Almaden lab on August 26 and 27 for the annual Almaden Institute. This year, the focus will be on advanced battery systems and the evolution of energy storage. Speakers include Nobel Laureate and energy expert Burton Richter; Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla Motors; and Deborah Gordon, co-author of 2 Billion Cars.

The Almaden Institute brings together eminent, innovative thinkers from academia, government, industry, research labs and the media for an intellectually charged and vigorous dialogue that addresses fundamental challenges at the very edge of science and technology. Previous Almaden Institutes have launched major research projects in cognitive computing, service science and healthcare informatics.

Leveraging expertise in materials science, nanotechnology, green chemistry and supercomputing, scientists at IBM Research’s Almaden lab in San Jose, California, are undertaking a multi-year research initiative around a grid-scale, efficient, affordable electrical energy storage network. The team plans to explore rechargeable Lithium/Air systems, which have the greatest energy density of all practical battery systems and are inherently safer than traditional Lithium/ion systems.

“High density, scalable energy storage technologies are emerging as the greatest game changer for this new era of renewable energy sources and smarter grids,” said Sharon Nunes, vice president, Big Green Innovations, IBM. “Today, the vast majority of the world's oil is burned for transportation.  Energy sources, such as wind and solar power, fluctuate continuously.  We believe the solution may lie in the development of an efficient, affordable energy storage network.” 

IBM intends to partner with industry leaders, academia and others in this collaborative endeavor. The company would license any intellectual property that may result from this research rather than manufacturing battery cells.

IBM Research teams across the world apply advanced materials science, physics, modeling tools, materials science, physics, and integration expertise to address emerging environmental management opportunities.  IBM is focused on several areas related to energy and the environment, including energy efficient technology and services, carbon management, advanced water management, intelligent utility networks and intelligent transportation systems. 

The company’s focus on exploring battery technologies stems from IBM’s Big Green Innovations initiative. Announced in October 2006, as part of IBM’s investment in 10 new businesses generated by InnovationJam, Big Green Innovations has concentrated its efforts on water management, alternative energy and carbon management.

With decades of leadership in environmental stewardship, proven ability to solve complex challenges and unparalleled global reach, IBM is uniquely positioned to increase the efficiency of today’s systems and enable our clients’ “green” strategies.  

ABOUT IBM

For more information, please visit www.ibm.com/green.

For more information about the 2009 Almaden Institute, please visit http://www.almaden.ibm.com/institute.

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IBM et ETH Zurich dévoilent leur projet de supercalculateur d’un nouveau genre fondé sur la technologie de « water-cooling »

Fruit de la collaboration avec ETH Zurich, université en sciences et technologies mondialement connue, le supercalculateur baptisé « Aquasar » sera équipé d’un système de refroidissement à l’eau (water-cooling) innovant qui redistribuera la chaleur dégagée dans les locaux de l’université. Comparé à un système équivalent doté de technologies actuelles de refroidissement, « Aquasar » va permettre de réduire la consommation énergétique de 40 % et l’empreinte carbone de 85%, soit près de 30t d’émission de dioxyde carbone en moins par an.

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IBM and ETH Zurich Unveil Plan to Build New Kind of Water-cooled Supercomputer

Direct reuse of waste heat. Aims to cut energy consumption by 40% and carbon-dioxide emissions by up to 85%

Zurich, Switzerland, June 23, 2009—In an effort to achieve energy-aware computing, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced plans to build a first-of-a-kind water-cooled supercomputer that will directly repurpose excess heat for the university buildings. The innovative system, dubbed Aquasar, is expected to decrease the carbon footprint of the system by up to 85% and estimated to save up to 30 tons of CO₂ per year, compared to a similar system using today’s cooling technologies.¹

Making computing systems and data centers energy-efficient is a staggering undertaking. In fact, up to 50% percent of an average air-cooled data center’s carbon footprint or energy consumption today is not caused by computing but by powering the necessary cooling systems to keep the processors from overheating—a situation that is far from optimal when looking at energy efficiency from a holistic perspective.

“Energy is arguably the number one challenge humanity will be facing in the 21^st century. We cannot afford anymore to design computer systems based on the criterion of computational speed and performance alone”, explains Prof. D. Poulikakos of ETH Zurich, head of the Laboratory of Thermodynamics in Emerging Technologies and lead investigator of this interdisciplinary project. ”The new target must be high performance and low net power consumption supercomputers and data centers. This means liquid cooling.”

With an innovative water-cooling system and direct heat reuse, Aquasar—the new supercomputer, which will be located at the ETH Zurich and is planned to start operation in 2010, will reduce overall energy consumption by 40%. The system is based on long-term joint research collaboration of ETH and IBM scientists in the field of chip-level water-cooling, as well as on a concept for “water-cooled data centers with direct energy re-use” advanced by scientists at IBM’s Zurich Lab.

The water-cooled supercomputer will consist of two IBM BladeCenter® servers in one rack and will have a peak performance of about 10 Teraflops. ²

Each of the blades will be equipped with a microscale high-performance liquid cooler per processor, as well as input and output pipeline networks and connections, which allow each blade to be connected and disconnected easily to the entire system (see image).

Water as a coolant has the ability to capture heat about 4,000 times more efficiently than air, and its heat-transporting properties are also far superior. Chip-level cooling with a water temperature of approximately 60°C is sufficient to keep the chip at operating temperatures well below the maximally allowed 85°C. The high input temperature of the coolant results in an even higher-grade heat as an output, which in this case will be about 65°C.

The pipelines from the individual blades link to the larger network of the server rack, which in turn are connected to the main water transportation network. The water-cooled supercomputer will require about 10 liters of water for cooling, and a pump ensures a flow rate of roughly 30 liters per minute. The entire cooling system is a closed circuit: the cooling water is heated constantly by the chips and consequently cooled to the required temperature as it passes through a passive heat exchanger, thus delivering the removed heat directly to the heating system of the university in this experimental phase. This eliminates the need for today’s energy-hungry chillers.

“Heat is a valuable commodity that we rely on and pay dearly for in our everyday lives. If we capture and transport the waste heat from the active components in a computer system as efficiently as possible, we can reuse it as a resource, thus saving energy and lowering carbon emissions. This project is a significant step towards energy-aware, emission-free computing and data centers,” explains Dr. Bruno Michel, Manager Advanced Thermal Packaging at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory.

Three-year collaborative research in emission-free high performance computing

From the industrial side, the project is part of IBM's First-Of-A-Kind program (FOAK), which engages IBM's scientists with clients to explore and pilot emerging technologies that address real world business problems. It was made possible by the support of IBM Switzerland and the IBM Research and Development Laboratory in Boeblingen, Germany.

This liquid cooled supercomputer research is planned as a three-year collaborative research program called Direct Re-Use of Waste Heat from Liquid-Cooled Supercomputers: Towards Low Power, High Performance, Zero-Emission Computing and Datacenters, which is funded jointly mainly by IBM, ETH Zurich and the Swiss Competence Center for Energy and Mobility (CCEM). Part of the system will be devoted to further research into cooling technologies and efficiencies by scientists of ETH Zurich, ETH Lausanne, the Swiss Competence Center for Energy and Mobility, and the IBM Zurich Research Lab.

The computational performance of Aquasar is a very important part of the research. Aquasar will be employed by the Computational Science and Engineering Lab of the Computer Science Department at ETH Zurich, for multiscale flow simulations pertaining to problems encountered at the interface of nanotechnology and fluid dynamics. Researchers from this laboratory will also optimize the efficiency with which the respective algorithms perform within the system, in collaboration with the IBM Zurich Lab. These activities will be supplemented with algorithms of other research labs participating in the project. With this supercomputer system, scientists intend to demonstrate that the ability to solve important scientific problems efficiently, does not need to have an adverse effect on the energy and environmental challenges facing humanity.

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