How much time do we have to get clean energy right?
For a healthier future we need affordable clean energy that is as plentiful as traditional fossil fuel energy.At this year's High Performance Computing (HPC) Symposium, PHD student Adam Jackson won the competition for his poster outlining his research into clean energy:
Building-integrated functional coatings.
The poster: Ab initio thermodynamics for the design of energy materialsoutlined the importance of being able to use the
Bath University Computing Services (BUCS) HPC Aquila serviceto speed up his research.
Background to Adam's work
Adam's research involves building a database of compounds which are used to form new photovoltaic materials (similar to a strip on a solar powered calculator) and testing what reaction conditions (mainly temperature and pressure variables) the different materials work well under. The advantages of using HPC to test from first principles rather than in a lab are numerous:
- Computational testing results in a consistent data set
- Time-consuming blind alleys can be avoided
- Quicker identification of the more promising materials
- Tests can be run in an idealised way
The value of HPC capability at the University of Bath
The University of Bath is lucky to have attracted researchers like Adam. Adam's research takes place under the supervision of Dr Aron Walsh, Professor Laurie Peter & Dr Darrell Patterson at the Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies, an important hub for sustainable chemistry in the UK. Researchers from the Centre recognise the value of having access to a well-supported, local HPC service, as it allow a user to run tests over a number of days and build their knowledge and confidence in a supported environment before applying to national facilities. Adam states that being able to access the Aquila HPC service enables his important research.
Encouraging more people to use HPC
The Department of Mathematical Sciences highlighted the need for getting more people to use modern supercomputing facilities at the 2013 HPC symposium. See details for the Scientific Computing course .
HPC is a local facility that needs to be well resourced and invested in to allow the University of Bath to meet its research strategy aims.
Follow Bath University's HPC service on twitter at @BathHPC .
Published: July 2013