The LRZ is part of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and provides services to higher education institutions in Munich and beyond. Among other things, the center houses the SuperMUC-NG (Next Generation), one of Europe's most powerful supercomputers. The LRZ works constantly to reduce the energy consumption of its systems. It has developed a strategy for optimising the energy efficiency of the entire data center, ranging from infrastructure and hardware to management software and applications. Together with technology companies, the LRZ has developed and optimised a hot-water cooling system in the early 2000s that has set standards worldwide. This innovative system significantly reduces electricity consumption and allows the heat generated by the supercomputer to be repurposed for heating buildings around.
This visit underlined a key message of the class: the future of computing is not just faster and more powerful, but can also be greener and more sustainable.