The Jaguar XT5 computer, housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn. and owned by the Department of Energy was just named the fastest computer in the world by the TOP500 list.  It has a performance speed of 1.759 petaflops or quadrillions of calculations per second and that power is being focused on solving the issues of climate change.

The Jaguar is an open science machine for performing peer-reviewed research.  It is being used to create models and simulations for predicting regional climate change, studying enzymes for developing better ethanol and writing algorithms for fast nuclear reactors that would produce less waste.  A billion hours of processor time have been scheduled for 2010 by users like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

If you're thinking that the fastest computer in the world should be used for other problems too, don't worry, the Jaguar along with the other supercomputers on the list are also being used for things like nuclear security, developing better medicines and examining the origins of the universe, among other things.

Oak Ridge hosts four of the supercomputers on the list, including Kraken which was number three in the world with a speed of 831 teraflops.  Where the human brain's processing performance ends, these supercomputers pick up, allowing tons of information to be sorted, processed and analyzed.  With all of the challenges facing us in tackling climate change, it's nice to have them on our side.

via AP

A recent study by the Cleantech Group revealed the much lower envrionmental impact of e-readers - specifically the Kindle - compared to traditional publishing, but the devices still require charging from the grid.  LG's new e-reader takes care of that:  it's outfitted with its own integrated solar panel, allowing it to run on clean, renewable, solar power.

The thin-film panel is 10 cm wide and just .7mm thick, adding only 20 grams to the product.  The panel is 9.6 percent efficient and needs 4.5 hours of sunlight to juice the device for an entire day. 

Last year, LG introduced a display that can be illuminated by sunlight instead of the backlight when used outdoors, increasing visibility and cutting energy use by 75 percent.  Press for the new e-reader doesn't indicate what kind of display it uses, but this product would be even more impressive if it included the sunlight-illuminated one.  That way you could read easily outdoors while charging the device at the same time.

via Greentech Media