World Community Grid is pleased to launch the Linux version of The Clean Energy Project - Phase 2 (CEP2). This project is provided by the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and hopes to find promising new materials for organic solar cells.
The extensive computing power of World Community Grid will be used to help research scientists create new materials to produce more efficient and inexpensive solar cells that will serve as viable energy sources for the world’s future needs.
CEP2 is performing electronic structure calculations: To obtain more accurate optical, electronic and other physical properties of the candidate solar materials, quantum mechanics calculations are being performed for each of the candidates. These calculations will be performed with the Q-Chem quantum chemistry software, developed by Q-Chem, Inc. This work will result in a useful database of information about the properties of a large number of compounds. This project will also provide direct input to experimental groups to aid in their design of improved solar cells.
For additional information on this project, please press the Research button in the upper navigation bar or click here.
Action Required to Participate in CEP2
Unlike most of our other projects, we will not automatically opt anyone into CEP2. This is because CEP2 uses code that, like other World Community Grid projects, is very computationally intensive, but unlike other World Community Grid projects, it is also very data intensive. Members will have to go to their My Projects page and elect to participate in this project.
At launch time, work units are only available for Linux users. Work units for Mac and Windows users are currently scheduled to be released prior to July 17, 2010. Additionally, the distribution of work units is limited to computers that have upload and download speeds of 1 Mbps or higher.
The CPU impact of this on computers is anticipated to be similar to other projects running on World Community Grid because the computer resource requirements for CEP2 are similar to that of FightAIDS@Home and HPF2. However, CEP2 requires a considerable amount of input and output data. The initial download required for this project is around 160MB and each work unit download is around 1MB. The results for a single work unit can be around 50MB, which is about 500 times larger than a typical FightAIDS@Home result. A 756kbps network connection would take approximately 12-15 minutes to download the work unit. At this time, there are no alternative solutions to overcome this issue.
CEP2 is the sixteenth research project to be launched on World Community Grid and one of seven projects currently active. The other six active research projects are: Discover Dengue Drugs – Together – Phase 2 (launched February, 2010), Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy – Phase 2 (launched May, 2009), Help Fight Childhood Cancer (launched March, 2009), Help Conquer Cancer (launched November, 2007), Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2 (launched July, 2006) and FightAIDS@Home (launched November, 2005). For more detailed information and FAQs about each of these projects, please click on the Research button in the upper navigation bar. We thank all of our members for their valuable contributions to the projects to date and hope you will continue to help us process those, as well as this latest project.
Because there are seven research projects running on World Community Grid, your grid agent could receive work units from any of the projects depending on your Project profile. If you prefer, you may elect to focus your computer's time only on particular projects. To do so, press the My Grid button in the upper navigation bar and select My Projects or click here. Work is sent only to machines which meet minimum system requirements set for a particular project. To read more specifics on the system requirements for CEP2 project and the other projects, click here.
Project Badge
If a member contributes a minimum of 14 days of CPU Run Time to this project, they will receive a CEP2 project badge on their member statistics page and next to their member name when they post in the forums. There is a different badge for each research project and beta testing. To read more about badges, click here.
Forums
In addition to providing information about this project, we have created a forum for discussions about the CEP2 project. To participate in this forum, please press the Forums button in the upper navigation bar or click here. Only forum authors with the title "The Clean Energy Project Scientist" are authorized to comment as representatives of the research organization: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Questions?
If you have any questions, World Community Grid provides you with four methods of obtaining assistance: (1) Review the FAQs found in the Help section of the website; (2) Review the forums to see if anyone has asked/answered the question that you have; (3) Ask the question in World Community Grid's The Clean Energy Project – Phase 2 project forum found here and a Community Advisor or a more experienced member will provide an answer; or (4) Send an email to the support desk from the Contact Us link found at the bottom of every page of the website (except in the forums).
We thank you for contributing to The Clean Energy Project – Phase 2 project.