# Investigating Supercomputer Performance with Sustainability in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
## 5 Results and Discussion
### Power Consumption  
Figure 7 illustrates the power consumption of the top-performing supercomputers and the top-EE supercomputers. Among the top-performing systems, _Tuolumne_ has the lowest power consumption at 3387 kW, whereas _Venado_ has the highest power consumption among the top-EE supercomputers at 1662 kW. This highlights the significant disparity in power consumption between these two groups of supercomputers. It is evident that the top-performing supercomputers generally consume much more power than the top-EE supercomputers. Notably, there is no power consumption data available for _Eagle_. In 2023 (Figure 8), a similar pattern to 2024 is observed. The power consumption of the top-performing supercomputers remains significantly higher, except for _Frontier_ and _LUMI_, which were listed in both ranking categories. Figure 8: Supercomputer power consumption for 2023: power consumption of the top-performing supercomputers for (**A**) November and (**C**) June; power consumption and energy efficiency rating of the most energy-efficient supercomputers for (**B**) November and (**D**) June. Figure 7: Supercomputer power consumption for 2024: power consumption of the top-performing supercomputers for (**A**) November and (**C**) June; power consumption and energy efficiency rating of the most energy-efficient supercomputers for (**B**) November and (**D**) June. The data presented in Figure 9 reveals that the pattern of power consumption of top-performing supercomputers is similar to the pattern observed in the years 2024 and 2023. _Frontier_ occupies the number one spot among the top-performing supercomputers while ranking second in EE ratings. The power consumption of these supercomputers varies, as indicated by the differing lengths of the bars in the chart (Figure 9). However, a direct relationship between performance and energy consumption cannot be deduced. For instance, _Fugaku_, ranked second in performance, consumes more power than _Frontier_, which holds the top spot. A similar discrepancy is observed between _LUMI_ and _Summit_, where power consumption does not align with performance ranking. However, in June 2022, _LUMI_ exhibited both higher performance and greater power consumption compared to _Leonardo_, ranked fourth. This inconsistency highlights the complexity of the relationship between performance and energy consumption. Interestingly, the patterns observed in 2024, 2023, and 2022 (Figure 9) are consistent with those seen in 2021 (Figure 10) and 2020 (Figure 11), suggesting a recurring trend over this five-year period. Top-performing supercomputers do not necessarily consume more power. _Frontier's_ top performance combined with lower power consumption relative to _Fugaku_ indicates efficiency rather than raw power usage as a critical factor. The recurring patterns across the five-year period suggest that advancements in supercomputing technology are facing a challenge in balancing top EE with increasing raw power usage. Differences in power consumption among supercomputers of similar rankings, such as _Fugaku_ and _Frontier_, suggest that supercomputer architecture and energy management strategies play significant roles in determining overall efficiency. The differences observed among Top10 and Green10 (e.g., _Fugaku_, ranked second in performance, consumes more power than _Frontier_, _LUMI_, _Summit_, etc.) are most likely due to the comparison of supercomputers of different generations (_Fugaku_ is older than _Frontier_, and _Summit_ is older than _LUMI_). Figure 9: Supercomputer power consumption for 2022: power consumption of the top-performing supercomputers for (**A**) November and (**C**) June; power consumption and energy efficiency rating of the most energy-efficient supercomputers for (**B**) November and (**D**) June.