{"70429":{"#nid":"70429","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Call for Clean Energy Innovation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, high gas prices in the U.S., and growing alarm over climate change, energy issues can no longer be ignored. But challenges to securing reliable and affordable energy in the U.S. remain a stumbling block that will require scientific, technological, and policy innovation.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHigh-performance computing\u2013where complicated computations get solved in supercomputers and computer clusters\u2013is one technique that researchers are using to help solve long-standing problems, such as biofuel efficiency. This approach and the need for a strategic energy policy that provides direction and support for implementing innovations were the focus of last month\u0027s National Summit on Advancing Clean Energy Technologies, a two-day summit organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Howard Baker Forum, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Speakers came from disciplines spanning finance, government, industry, and academia.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe summit focused on various forms of energy, including nuclear, coal, and liquid fuels, and delved into how high-performance computing could help create more efficient and less harmful ways of exploiting different energy sources. John P. Holdren, the White House science adviser, explained that the world isn\u0027t in danger of running out of fossil fuels in the near future, but it faces \u0022economic, political, and environmental risks of fossil-fuel dependence using current technologies.\u0022 The alternatives to fossil fuels, such as nuclear power and biofuels, in their current state are riddled with similar economic, political, and environmental risks. \u0022We need technological innovation,\u0022 Holdren said bluntly.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo meet this call for innovation, scientists are using high-performance computing. For example, Charles Westbrook, retired division leader for physics and chemistry at LLNL and current president of the Combustion Institute, explained how modeling and simulations are helping researchers understand biofuels.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDiesel is described by a parameter called the cetane number, which is a measurement of the combustion quality of the fuel during compression ignition. Biodiesel in the U.S. is made from soybean oil and has a cetane number of 47, Westbrook explained. But biodiesel in Europe, based on rapeseed and canola oil, has a cetane number of 54, indicating it\u0027s a more efficient fuel. Researchers are using supercomputers and computer clusters to understand the difference in cetane, and therefore the difference in performance, of these two biofuels.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We are starting to understand that the differences in the cetane numbers of the biodiesels are due to the number of carbon-carbon double bonds buried deep in these molecules,\u0022 Westbrook said. He noted that high-performance computing helped explain at the molecular level the fundamental concept of the cetane number.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnother example of the impact high-performance computing is having on scientific and technological R\u0026amp;D was noted by David S. Sholl, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He described how his team is using modeling to trim years off the R\u0026amp;D timetable in designing new membrane materials to capture carbon dioxide at a coal-fired power plant.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBIODIESEL QUALITY High-performance computing is helping to explain why biodiesel in Europe, such as that produced by this Italian facility, performs better than biodiesel made in the U.S. Shutterstock\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBIODIESEL QUALITY High-performance computing is helping to explain why biodiesel in Europe, such as that produced by this Italian facility, performs better than biodiesel made in the U.S.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022There are, conservatively, 10,000 different materials we could use in making these membranes,\u0022 Sholl said, adding that it\u0027s \u0022simply impractical to do 10,000 different experiments, each of which might take three weeks or a month.\u0022 To rapidly sort through which materials hold the most promise, Scholl\u0027s team applies high-performance computing to make \u0022quantitative estimates of the properties of these materials so we can rapidly go from 10,000 to perhaps 100 materials.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, Thomas Mason, the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, pointed out that there are still limits to what the current state of the art in high-performance computing is capable of handling. Specifically, he emphasized that computers have difficulty dealing with complex problems such as climate change, one of the big factors that will impact future energy consumption.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMason explained that high-performance computing is now limited in the amount of data it can handle. This technical limitation forces researchers to average the parameters that go into describing weather in large grids, which greatly limits chemical and physical conclusions they can draw about how weather and climate changes are interconnected. Capturing in computer simulations all the rich chemical and physical science that occurs in small, local regions and then understanding it on a more global scale \u0022is something we absolutely cannot do with today\u0027s computers,\u0022 Mason stated.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat was also the message delivered by David Turek, vice president of deep computing at IBM. He said innovation is sorely needed to enable computers to manage myriad forms and sources of data without sucking up large amounts of energy.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Turek, the problem ahead isn\u0027t how to build a faster computer processor, but rather how to handle the data deluge that comes from all kinds of devices, from mobile phones to radio-frequency identification tags attached to merchandise in retail stores. The data deluge will continue to grow and has to be handled in a timely manner, often within seconds. \u0022We need to reconsider architecture and structure of high-performance computing systems to be something more than just partial differential equation solvers,\u0022 Turek stated. \u0022We have to conceptualize them quite explicitly to do data analytics effectively in real time.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWith that performance comes the problem of energy use, which will worsen over time. \u0022There is a huge amount of energy consumption in the deployment of high-performance computing,\u0022 Turek said. He explained that by the end of this year, 100 billion kW of energy will be spent just running data centers. \u0022Every time you do another Google search, remember, somewhere, somehow, a watt is being spent,\u0022 he noted. \u0022All of us are contributors to this problem.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe summit also included discussions of the need for a comprehensive U.S. energy policy to foster and implement innovations such as those resulting from studies using high-performance computing. Such a robust policy has been sorely lacking in the past, despite much talk over the decades about the U.S.\u0027s need to bolster its energy security.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022In the U.S., we\u0027re not so much addicted to oil; we are addicted to simple solutions and silver bullets,\u0022 said Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as she articulated why the U.S. has been dogged by energy problems. \u0022As a consequence, for almost 40 years, we have failed to put into place strategic, comprehensive, and robust energy security policies.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJackson urged the implementation of a national strategic energy master plan, calling it \u0022a tool for rationalizing, focusing, and prioritizing the decisions of government, industry, and academia.\u0022 Such a plan would encompass a diverse energy portfolio and would include timelines and goals to implement the portfolio.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESimilarly, retired Gen. James Jones, former national security adviser for President Barack Obama, lamented the potential harm facing the U.S. in the absence of an energy policy. \u0022No other issue is a bigger threat to our long-term national security than is our continuing failure to address our energy challenge,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring his talk, Jones described two pressing issues: the twin needs for structural and organizational reforms and a strategic energy master plan. \u0022If we strategically organize and equip our federal agencies to succeed in the 21st century, and [if] we fund successful programs at levels commensurate with the challenges we hope to overcome, we can produce new innovative technologies and overcome immense energy challenges,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHe urged that federal agencies be reorganized and consolidated so that they could face energy challenges with a more united front. Without a more efficient government, \u0022we will be held hostage to what I call the \u0027 la carte technology solutions,\u0027 which are interesting when we hear about them, but they disappear very quickly and nothing seems to get done,\u0022 Jones stated. \u0022The diffuse network of decisionmakers operating in a complex environment, many times with unclear or unaligned goals, must be coordinated strategically.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESteven E. Koonin, undersecretary for science at the Department of Energy, noted that making changes to the energy infrastructure is not going to be easy because of its sheer size, complexity, and expense. He and others pointed out that countries like China are investing heavily in a wide variety of energy sources and, in many ways, outpacing the U.S. in their investment in petroleum alternatives.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut the U.S. has a notable advantage over other countries in high-performance computing, which \u0022will not only help the competitiveness but our ability to change the energy system rapidly,\u0022 Koonin said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen the summit drew to a close, Tomas Diaz de la Rubia, deputy director for science and technology at LLNL, said that the wide-ranging discussions from the summit would be used by the organizing committee to develop a national strategic plan. The stakeholder-developed plan would outline a partnership between the public and private sectors to enable effective adoption of innovative and clean technologies by the energy sector.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EChemical \u0026amp; Engineering News\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n    ISSN 0009-2347\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWith the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, high gas prices in the U.S., and growing alarm over climate change, energy issues can no longer be ignored. But challenges to securing reliable and affordable energy in the U.S. remain a stumbling block that will require scientific, technological, and policy innovation.\n\nFull Article:\n\n\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/cen\/government\/89\/8924gov2.html\u0022 title=\u0022http:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/cen\/government\/89\/8924gov2.html\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/cen\/government\/89\/8924gov2.html\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Call For Clean Energy Innovation Summit explores applications of high"}],"uid":"27222","created_gmt":"2011-06-22 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:49","author":"Mary Hallisey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-06-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-06-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1280","name":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"213","name":"energy"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAlex Collins\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=ac258\u0022\u003EContact Alex Collins\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-0384\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["alex@energy.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}