DEC 09

A friend of mine once pointed to a small icon in his taskbar. He told me that it was a program which utilized his laptop’s unused computing power to perform calculations. While he was idle, his computer (and thousands like it) was doing work and sending the results to a centralized location.

Such is the work of World Community Grid, an organization which uses this kind of distributed computing to dramatically shorten the length of time it takes to make progress in a research project that involves running untold numbers of calculations. For example, by using these programs to help identify potential drug targets for smallpox in 2003, scientists cut computing time down from one year to three months.

Now WCG’s sponsor – IBM – is doing a bit of solar R&D right now, developing thin film cells and solar concentrators. Why not use the WCG technology to give that research a little boost? That’s exactly what IBM and Harvard University are working on. They are planning on running thousands of materials and compounds through the system to analyze which ones would make the best solar cells.

Sure, this is investigation by brute force. But the beauty is that with WCG, brute force analyses can be conducted within a reasonable time frame. According to Harvard’s Alan Aspuru-Guzik, this particular project will take 2 years instead of 22. Let’s hope they find something new, though. It would be a pity to find that the best materials are the ones we already have.

If you want to add your computer to the World Community Grid, click here.

Via CNET Green Tech

Image via HowStuffWorks

Comments (7)

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Unused Computing == Wasted Power
written by Carl, December 09, 2008

These computing grids (this, SETI@home, etc.) once seemed good, but turning the computer off is a better use of the machine. IBM could eliminate the need for solar panels if they figured out how to make the "standby" work properly so people would use it. By joining a grid, people have an incentive to leave the computer (or video game) running. Left on, the computer would use the equivalent of several solar panels, each.

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It's a good idea
written by David, December 09, 2008

Well, people can contribute their processing power when they're on their computers AND turn off their computers when they're not using it.

This isn't an all or nothing situation. To simply write off this idea is a folly.

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Why not both?
written by hyperspaced, December 10, 2008

Why not make the "standby" mode to work properly for all electic devices (H-U-G-E power savings) AND find more efficient solar panels? I only hope that took into account the material cost factor into the equation :)

PS. For sure, the materials we use for solar panels are not ideal, hence the poor performance.

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: /
written by Clinch, December 10, 2008

I've never been too keen on this kind of idea, it just seems like the big companies are too cheap to buy the computers and power they need, so just borrow other peoples processing power.
And it doesn't really seem that greener either, powering one super-efficient meg-processor would use much less energy than powering hundreds of average-efficiency PC processors, and all the attached peripherals and such.
Although, this is only really a bad point if you live somewhere hot, and need AC to remove the extra heat from the computer, if you live somewhere cold, you're going to use energy to heat the place, so why not let it run through the computer first.

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this is great!
written by Jo, December 10, 2008

i wouldn't refuse to take notice of this idea. Yes, the idea of turning off your machine at home when it's not in use is a great one, but don't forget that machines that reside within businesses or office buildings are not always turned off. Most people would rather leave their work 'active' until the next day, so they can easily continue working on them. I for one will try this out on both my machines here at work :).

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interesting
written by Codec, December 10, 2008

I am a college student and I have a part time job that requires me to work on my computer. If it's either for the college or my job, I can't say put too much stress on my computer. So, I am glad I can help out by leting the program run while I work. I don't care if the corporations should invest more in this kind. I don't blame them for using untapped resources.

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...
written by Bob, December 12, 2008

I'm a full time student with a almost full time job, but I found a way around this. I use the 5 computers at work to run it when nobody is using them (we're required to leave them on til end of the day) This way it is win win.

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