11.09.2024

Photo above: Hamburg's Senator for the Environment Jens Kerstan (left) at the reception hosted by the Hamburg US Consulate on 9.9.2024 in honor of the delegation. On the right is the host, US Consul General Jason Chue, and on the far right Senator Wayne Harper, Utah State Senate.

The tour started on September 9, 2024 in Hamburg with visits to the Ministry for the Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture, the Hamburg Renewable Energy Cluster and the decommissioned Moorburg coal-fired power plant, which is to be used to produce hydrogen in the future. On September 10, the delegation visited the DKRZ to learn about energy efficiency in high-performance computing and the energy requirements and waste heat utilization of data centers.

Michael Böttinger welcomed the guests and gave an overview of the development of the DKRZ as a discipline-specific high-performance computing center. The gradual increase in available computing power over the years has allowed scientists to continue to improve models, for example by increasing model resolution and complexity, and to apply them to a wide range of topics - from basic research to climate change projections.

Visit of US State Legislators at DKRZ 2024/09/10Carsten Schmitt, Head of the Systems department, reported on current computer equipment and storage systems as well as the energy efficiency indicator PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of the Levante computer in relation to the infrastructure. With a PUE value of approx. 1.095, the DKRZ supercomputer system is already well below the legally required limits for the next few years (for existing data centers PUE <= 1.3 from 2030

In another short presentation, Sascha Thöming explained the waste heat management of the computer system. When outside temperatures are low, part of the excess heat is directed to the neighboring university building, where the heat is used to warm laboratory air. On an annual average, around 20% of the waste heat generated is expected to be used in 2024. The technical and economic feasibility of other heat utilization options is currently being investigated.

In the last presentation, Dr. Pay Giesselmann on the status and initial results of the two projects EEHPC and EECliPs on the topic of energy-efficient high-performance computing, in which the DKRZ is involved. These projects examine, for example, which hardware-related system parameters have what influence on the runtime and energy consumption of simulations. A corresponding optimization of the operating parameters of the Levante computer has already led to energy savings of 720 MWh this year!

After the presentations and a mutual exchange, the visit ended with a tour of the computer hall, the data archives and the climate globe, on which Michael Böttinger showed visualizations of simulated precipitation changes.

Visit of US State Legislators at DKRZ: group photo  2024/09/10