IBM and Harvard University researchers recently launched Clean Energy Project, a new project of the World Community Grid, the world's largest public computing grid created by individuals collectively contributing their unused computer time.

Started in December 2008, the project aims at finding new materials to be used for the next generation of cheap and efficient solar cells and later energy storage devices.
To reach this goal, researchers will calculate the electronic properties of tens of thousands of organic materials - many more than could ever be tested in laboratory - and determine which candidates are most promising for developing affordable solar energy technology.
Using traditional methods this research would require costly infrastructure and several years to be completed. By harnessing the immense power of the World Community Grid instead, calculations will be shared among the computers of the subscribers to the project around the world and research time will be reduced from years to months.

Both individuals and universitites or associations can easily become partners of the project: users must register and then install onto their computers a small program or "agent". When idle, computers will request the World Community Grid server for data on the chosen project, perform computations, send the results back to the server and ask the server for a new piece of work.
Each computation that a computer performs provides scientists with critical information which help accelerate the pace of research.

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