Computing Resources
ORNL’s Computational Sciences Building (CSB) houses some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The facility has over 40,000 square feet of raised floor space, over 25 megawatts of power, and 6,600 tons of cooling capacity. The building’s 480v of power are provided a 280 megawatt substation. The CSB was among the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (known as LEED)–certified computing facilities in the country, meaning that its design satisfies criteria used by the U.S. Green Building Council to measure the efficiency and sustainability of a building.
The CSB, which is home to OLCF’s Titan and several other systems, has a power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.25— a recent study of 22 large-scale data centers by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reflected an average PUE of 1.83 (the closer to 1 the more efficient). This metric means that for every 1.25 megawatts of energy consumed by the CSB, 1 megawatt is used to power the machines and accelerate science. The other 0.25 megawatts is used for lighting, the dispersion of heat generated by the machines, and various other support equipment. The CSB’s PUE rating makes it almost 32 percent more efficient than its average counterpart, a direct result of the laboratory’s energy conservation measures.
OLCF Computing Resources:
