If the concern is really over electricity usage, consider that a supercomputer
center is always climate controlled, year-round. Whereas leaving my home
computer powered on (with monitor off) 24hrs a day is helping reduce my usage
of propane to heat my home during the winter months. All while helping
scientists learn how they will cure me of cancer when I reach that stage in
life.

To build a supercomputer center requires many years, and committees, and who
decides what runs on it? And who will fund the construction? Who funds the
ongoing operations? What does the machine do when it would otherwise be idle?
Sometimes all the bureaucracy that surrounds such projects gets in the way of
good fundamental science.

Learn more about Rosetta@home. Helping do the research with my home computer is
something that can be done today. No need for a government approval or
committee meeting. I've got it running right now, in the idle time between
keystrokes. The cost of the power used by a computer is minimal compared to the
cost of trying to treat someone with cancer using today's methods. Think of it
as an insurance policy. Or a savings plan with compound interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzATbET3g54
http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta

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