NREL's computational sciences center hosts the largest high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities dedicated to energy research while functioning as a living laboratory for energy-efficient computing. NREL's HPC capabilities support the research needs of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). In ten years of operation, HPC use in EERE-sponsored research has grown by a factor of 30, including work in electricity generation, energy efficiency, transportation, and energy system modeling. This paper analyzes this research portfolio, providing examples of individual use cases. The paper documents NREL's history of operating one of the world's most energy-efficient data centers while examining pathways to reduce economic and environmental impact beyond reduction of Power Usage Efficiency (PUE). This paper concludes by examining the unique opportunities created for accelerating improvements in data center efficiency created by combining an HPC system dedicated to energy research and a research program in energy-efficient computing.

翻译：美国国家可再生能源实验室（NREL）的计算科学中心拥有致力于能源研究的最大规模高性能计算（HPC）能力，同时作为一个高效能计算的活体实验室运行。NREL的HPC能力支持美国能源部能源效率与可再生能源办公室（EERE）的研究需求。在十年运营期间，EERE资助研究中的HPC使用量增长了30倍，涵盖发电、能源效率、交通和能源系统建模等领域。本文分析了该研究组合，并提供了具体应用案例。文章记录了NREL运营全球最高能效数据中心之一的历史，同时探讨了超越降低电能使用效率（PUE）以减少经济与环境影响的途径。最后，本文通过结合专用于能源研究的HPC系统与高效能计算研究项目，探讨了由此产生的加速数据中心能效提升的独特机遇。