Corporate Responsibility for Sustainable Action

The HLRS and the Institute of High Performance Computing (IHR) of the University of Stuttgart take our responsibility for sustainable development seriously.

• We are committed to continual improvement of environmental and climate protection. Therefore, we want to ensure compliance with all relevant legal requirements.
• We are in the process of defining sustainability targets and measures.
• Sustainability and environmental impacts are regularly recorded and evaluated.

Prevention of Pollution

• We want to focus on economical and efficient use of all resources.
• We intend to use the best available technology to optimize the cooling and power supply of the high - performance computer, as long as it is economical.
• We want to use waste heat economically an d ecologically.
• We aim to make sure that technology implemented at HLRS is reusable and recyclable.
• We place importance on sustainable purchasing and waste management.
• We try to reduce negative impacts on the environment and health.
• Within the scope of our influence, we want to use environmentally friendly materials for new buildings and renovation projects.
• We want to create good conditions for the fauna and flora in green areas surrounding our facilities.

Research and Teaching

• High-performance computing facilitates the saving of energy and resources.
• We want to redouble our efforts to attract more orders and research projects focused on sustainability.
• We intend to support simulation research in the fields of energy, health, mobility and environment and contribute to these fields.
• We want to transfer our knowledge and experience in the field of sustainability through academic teaching.
• We plan to, in particular, transfer our knowledge of the energy - efficient use of computing systems.

Engagement with HLRS Employees

• We want to promote a way of thinking and acting at HLRS that is sustainable and contributes to environmental protection.
• We place particular emphasis on the teaching of sustainability issues as part of our internal and external training and development measures.
• We involve our employees in identifying our sustainability targets.

Work Environment and Employee Health

• We plan to improve our employees’ health by encouraging participation in the health program of the University of Stuttgart.
• We want to create a family - friendly working environment.
• We intend to ensure stable and long - term employment for our employees.

Serving as a Role Model

• Through our engagement in the field of sustainability at HLRS we aim to become a model for other high - performance computing centers.
• By providing instruction in the field of sustainability at IHR we would like to become a model for the University of Stuttgart.

Providing Information regularly

• We want to maintain an open dialog with our stakeholders. Therefore, we plan to publish a sustainability report regularly.

(Resolved by the advisory board on August 5, 2015 and expanded by the IHR on June 20, 2018)

Energy Policy

To ensure sustainable development of the HLRS, it is our responsibility to minimize energy consumption within the bounds of technical and economic constraints. Continuous improvement of energy efficiency is a precondition for achieving this goal. We are implementing an energy management system and defining strategic and operational targets to optimize our energy balance and measures to achieve them. Our adherence to energy targets will be checked regularly and documented based on energy performance indicators.

Achievement of energy management system targets will require transparent information sharing and the allocation of resources (manpower, special skills, technical and financial means).

We consider economical energy consumption in the operation and purchase of devices, especially for high - performance computers, cooling facilities, and the prov ision of services.

We actively involve our employees in our energy management system. They are informed regularly about energy targets, measures we are undertaking, and accomplishments of the energy management system. Employees have opportunities to suggest and support new ideas for saving energy.

We train our employees regularly in energy - conscious behavior and encourage them to incorporate these measures into their daily work.

(Resolved by the advisory board on June 14, 2016)

Contact

Marcel Brodbeck
Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum
University Stuttgart
nachhaltigkeithlrs.de