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> The computing-heater warms buildings ecologically and for free, thanks to the waste heat released by embedded microprocessors. By performing complex IT operat

> The computing-heater warms buildings ecologically and for free, thanks to the waste heat released by embedded microprocessors. By performing complex IT operations... ... which are what, exactly?

ryankrage77 6y ago
Going by the vaguness of the site, I wouldn't be suprised if they're mining bitcoin for themselves while you pay for the electricity. Edit: Dug around some more, looks like they're building a BOINC-like service? https://computing.qarnot.com/en/ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/
- bayindirh 6y ago
  If I remember correctly, they pay for the network and electricity use of the heater. They rent the platform for computation to other third parties. So you, store and cool the computer for free. They probably sell directly to buildings and municipalities during construction, so it's installed and left there. So you either just rent it for a nominal fee or pay nothing.
  - Tijdreiziger 6y ago
    Sounds like what Nerdalize tried to do in the Netherlands, but IIRC they went bankrupt not long ago.
acomjean 6y ago
Im not sure what it’s doing but “folding@home” is doing biology simulations as it’s useful distributed computing, that can probably generate some warmth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home
- bayindirh 6y ago
  Folding@Home has an unofficial guide for it too [0]. At the end of the day, Qarnot rents this infrastructure to other companies for computation and use the heat energy to heat stuff (air, water, warehouses, etc.). Not a bad idea. [0]: https://greenfoldingathome.com/2020/05/25/how-to-make-a-foldinghome-space-heater-and-why-would-you-want-to/ https://greenfoldingathome.com/2020/05/25/how-to-make-a-fold...
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
looking through their tech stack and the hello world example and stuff I think you can put your own stuff i n it, but probably the most common stuff is 3d rendering. on edit: I got a downvote so someone must think I'm wrong? the basis of my idea was - in the FAQ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/FAQ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/FAQ 3D: Blender, Maya, V-Ray, Guerilla IA / ML / Big data or simulation: Code Saturne FreeFem OpenFOAM PyTorch TensorFlow SickitLearn Spark If there is a Docker image, we support the software! You can either bring your own or choose an existing one on Docker Hub. You can also ask our experts for help! I expected the 3D stuff put up top made it the most used, but could be wrong in that. Obviously also some data crunching, ML tasks, but at any rate if my answer was wrong and so off base as to get a downvote maybe you could also just say why I'm wrong and what it's generally used for? on second edit: developer documentation https://computing.qarnot.com/en/developers/overview/qarnot-computing-home https://computing.qarnot.com/en/developers/overview/qarnot-c... made me think that maybe if you have one you can get your own api token and put your stuff on it, obviously you would have to pay them for that so not sure how it would work.
- cinntaile 6y ago
  You have been here for a couple of years, surely you have noticed downvotes don't always make sense.
  - bryanrasmussen 6y ago
    sure, but I suppose it makes sense to the person making the downvote. And when it makes especially poor sense to me I start to think - maybe they see something I don't? on edit: I do sometimes also get paranoid and think, man there is just someone who doesn't like me and automatically downvote when they run across my name!
    - agurk 6y ago
      Particularly when there's a case of a single downvote, it's worth remembering that it's easy to click the wrong button here - especially on mobile. I make a habit of checking the command has changed to "unvote" or "undown" correctly to verify I voted how I wanted to. I've also hit voting arrows a lot whilst scrolling (on mobile) and must not have caught that every single time.

> The computing-heater warms buildings ecologically and for free, thanks to the waste heat released by embedded microprocessors. By performing complex IT operations... ... which are what, exactly?

ryankrage77 6y ago

Going by the vaguness of the site, I wouldn't be suprised if they're mining bitcoin for themselves while you pay for the electricity. Edit: Dug around some more, looks like they're building a BOINC-like service? https://computing.qarnot.com/en/ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/

bayindirh 6y ago
If I remember correctly, they pay for the network and electricity use of the heater. They rent the platform for computation to other third parties. So you, store and cool the computer for free. They probably sell directly to buildings and municipalities during construction, so it's installed and left there. So you either just rent it for a nominal fee or pay nothing.
- Tijdreiziger 6y ago
  Sounds like what Nerdalize tried to do in the Netherlands, but IIRC they went bankrupt not long ago.

acomjean 6y ago

Im not sure what it’s doing but “folding@home” is doing biology simulations as it’s useful distributed computing, that can probably generate some warmth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home

bayindirh 6y ago
Folding@Home has an unofficial guide for it too [0]. At the end of the day, Qarnot rents this infrastructure to other companies for computation and use the heat energy to heat stuff (air, water, warehouses, etc.). Not a bad idea. [0]: https://greenfoldingathome.com/2020/05/25/how-to-make-a-foldinghome-space-heater-and-why-would-you-want-to/ https://greenfoldingathome.com/2020/05/25/how-to-make-a-fold...

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

looking through their tech stack and the hello world example and stuff I think you can put your own stuff i n it, but probably the most common stuff is 3d rendering. on edit: I got a downvote so someone must think I'm wrong? the basis of my idea was - in the FAQ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/FAQ https://computing.qarnot.com/en/FAQ 3D: Blender, Maya, V-Ray, Guerilla IA / ML / Big data or simulation: Code Saturne FreeFem OpenFOAM PyTorch TensorFlow SickitLearn Spark If there is a Docker image, we support the software! You can either bring your own or choose an existing one on Docker Hub. You can also ask our experts for help! I expected the 3D stuff put up top made it the most used, but could be wrong in that. Obviously also some data crunching, ML tasks, but at any rate if my answer was wrong and so off base as to get a downvote maybe you could also just say why I'm wrong and what it's generally used for? on second edit: developer documentation https://computing.qarnot.com/en/developers/overview/qarnot-computing-home https://computing.qarnot.com/en/developers/overview/qarnot-c... made me think that maybe if you have one you can get your own api token and put your stuff on it, obviously you would have to pay them for that so not sure how it would work.

cinntaile 6y ago
You have been here for a couple of years, surely you have noticed downvotes don't always make sense.
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  sure, but I suppose it makes sense to the person making the downvote. And when it makes especially poor sense to me I start to think - maybe they see something I don't? on edit: I do sometimes also get paranoid and think, man there is just someone who doesn't like me and automatically downvote when they run across my name!
  - agurk 6y ago
    Particularly when there's a case of a single downvote, it's worth remembering that it's easy to click the wrong button here - especially on mobile. I make a habit of checking the command has changed to "unvote" or "undown" correctly to verify I voted how I wanted to. I've also hit voting arrows a lot whilst scrolling (on mobile) and must not have caught that every single time.