Eco-High Performance Computing

Published: Thu Jul 10 2025 - 16:49

Technology and computing have become one of the most energy-intensive infrastructures in our society. From cloud services to large-scale machine learning (ML), the carbon footprint of digital systems is growing rapidly and posing a global sustainability challenge. 

High-Performance Computing (HPC) platforms are particularly demanding, drawing up to 20–30 megawatts of power at any given time which is comparable to the entire power drawdown of a small city. Globally, HPC data centres are expected to consume nearly 3% of total electricity by 2030.

This surge in energy consumption not only inflates operational costs but also raises serious environmental concerns. In Ireland as a major European HPC data centre hub, the situation is especially urgent: data centres here already account for over one-fifth of the country’s electricity usage and could reach 30% by 2030. This growth risks outpacing the deployment of renewable energy sources and threatens national climate targets of 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

The challenge is clear: we need more responsible, energy-aware computing.

Possibilities for Eco High Performance Computing 

At TU Dublin’s Faculty of Computing, Digital and Data, this challenge is being met head-on through the work of the HPC Nexus Laboratory, the university’s first dedicated centre for High-Performance Computing research. Established in May 2024 at the School of Informatics and Cybersecurity, the lab focuses on energy and performance optimisation of HPC platforms. It hosts a vibrant community of graduate researchers, academics, and industry collaborators dedicated to advancing sustainable computing.

The lab, with the support of this Green-Campus Open-Call funding, have developed a pioneering project that explores energy optimisation opportunities in data-intensive workloads on HPC platforms, known as Eco-HPC. 

Led by Dr Tania Malik, Lecturer and Director of the HPC Nexus Lab, the project focused on measuring the energy usage of data intensive applications. Dr Malik is supported by Urooj Asgher, PhD researcher leading the Eco-HPC work. 

The team acquired a custom-built, highly accurate hardware power meter, helping them closely track how much energy is used during demanding computer activity. Combined with software tools, the lab has created a powerful benchmarking environment to study energy and performance of data intensive workloads – essentially how to get the best performance with the least energy.

The goal has not just been to quantify energy use but to identify how algorithms and scheduling could make computing more efficient.  Speaking about the important role of Eco-HPC in computer research, Project Lead Dr. Tania Malik said:

Energy is the hidden cost of intelligence. We are teaching the next generation of researchers not just how to design and develop powerful data-intensive applications, but how to do so responsibly.

Making waves in International Research

The project has already gained attention by computer researchers and conference events worldwide. Its findings have been accepted at two prestigious peer-reviewed conferences and are featuring at:

• The 2025 International Conference on Innovations in Computing Research (ICR 25) in London.
• The EUt+ Statistical & Machine Learning Workshop (SAML25) in Dublin.

Beyond academic publications, Eco-HPC has sparked wider institutional and international engagement. 

• #ResearchConnect event - The project’s findings were showcased at #ResearchConnect, organized by the HPC Nexus Lab in June 2025 at TU Dublin. The event brought together researchers from across faculties to explore strategies for advancing energy-efficient computing and fostering more sustainable research practices.
• Sustainable Reality (SR25) event - Urooj Asgher’s work on the Eco-HPC project has been shortlisted among researchers from across the UK and Ireland. She has been selected to present the finding of Eco-HPC at the SR25 event, taking place at the Royal Society of Chemistry in London in October 2025.  She will take part in the Early Career Lightning Talk series session that is dedicated to showcasing cutting-edge, next-generation research to an audience of technical experts, industry leaders, and policymakers driving the future of supercomputing.

The publications emerging from the project along with strong institutional and international engagement highlight the project's research excellence and its growing influence in the field of sustainable computing.  Speaking about the promise of research of this kind, Urooj Asgher said:

This project helped me see that even in advanced computing, we can measure our environmental impact and do something about it.

Looking ahead, the HPC Nexus Lab is expanding its infrastructure and enabling broader student engagement in energy-performance benchmarking. Plans are also underway to collaborate with the Sustainability Action Lab to develop open educational toolkits that will integrate these insights into TU Dublin’s computing curriculum to ensure that students not only learn how to build data intensive applications, but how to make them sustainable.

Shared Impact

At TU Dublin we are committed to progressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through collaboration and action. This project contributes to several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, it supports research focused on improving energy efficiency. It also aligns with SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, particularly the goal of enhancing scientific research and upgrading technological capabilities to boost resource efficiency. Additionally, the project addresses SDG12: Responsible Consumption and Production, by promoting the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources, reducing waste, and embedding sustainable practices throughout.

This project aligns with TU Dublin’s Climate Action Roadmap -  the lab is contributing directly to Ireland’s decarbonisation goals by tackling performance and energy efficiency in computing. 

Green Campus Open Call

The Green-Campus Open Call can help bring ideas like these to life by making micro-grants available to selected project ideas submitted in response to the open call. The Green-Campus programme encourages a partnership approach to environmental education and management. To optimise the potential for impact, the Green-Campus Open Call programme encourages project proposals that can be implemented using the Living Lab approach and that include exploration, co-creation, experimentation and evaluation phases. You can read more about the TU Dublin Living Lab and access living lab planning templates here.