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We really need to find a better use of heat generated by data centers. Is there a way to harness exhaust heat to generate electricity ? or for other industria

by slt2021 1y ago

We really need to find a better use of heat generated by data centers. Is there a way to harness exhaust heat to generate electricity ? or for other industrial use case, for example light manufacturing, textile, pulp & paper ? Is it possible to harness heat to boil water and like generate electricity ?

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
carlosjobim 1y ago
Have you considered the trillions of gallons of water which get heated every day by the sun and then all that heat evaporates in the night?
- timeon 1y ago
  Do those trillions of gallons of water require generated energy for water treatment?
  - carlosjobim 1y ago
    What does it matter? Angry hackers are down voting my comment because somehow human endeavors have to be energy effective, but nature hasn't?
lxgr 1y ago
The main problem is that the temperature difference isn't high enough to do a lot of useful things with the waste heat from data centers. Boiling things directly doesn't work, as the temperature is way below the boiling point of water, and for anything indirect you'll need some type of heat pump – at which point the data center heat also doesn't look that attractive anymore compared to e.g. just using heat from the air or ground. Maybe you could heat a few buildings in very cold climate, but again, the time or area required for heat exchange is a function of the temperature gradient, so this is something that's typically done using the "waste heat" [1] of power plants, which is much hotter. [1] Removing steam from CHP cogeneration isn't free in that every joule of heat removed reduces the electricity output a bit, but within a few kilometers of the power plant, it's much more efficient than electric heating using the electricity generated.
- perihelions 1y ago
  Datacenter district heating is a thing in Finland, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-14/finland-s-data-centers-are-heating-cities-too https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-14/finland-s... ("Finland's Data Centers Are Heating Cities, Too" (2025))

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

carlosjobim 1y ago

Have you considered the trillions of gallons of water which get heated every day by the sun and then all that heat evaporates in the night?

timeon 1y ago
Do those trillions of gallons of water require generated energy for water treatment?
- carlosjobim 1y ago
  What does it matter? Angry hackers are down voting my comment because somehow human endeavors have to be energy effective, but nature hasn't?

lxgr 1y ago

The main problem is that the temperature difference isn't high enough to do a lot of useful things with the waste heat from data centers. Boiling things directly doesn't work, as the temperature is way below the boiling point of water, and for anything indirect you'll need some type of heat pump – at which point the data center heat also doesn't look that attractive anymore compared to e.g. just using heat from the air or ground. Maybe you could heat a few buildings in very cold climate, but again, the time or area required for heat exchange is a function of the temperature gradient, so this is something that's typically done using the "waste heat" [1] of power plants, which is much hotter. [1] Removing steam from CHP cogeneration isn't free in that every joule of heat removed reduces the electricity output a bit, but within a few kilometers of the power plant, it's much more efficient than electric heating using the electricity generated.

perihelions 1y ago
Datacenter district heating is a thing in Finland, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-14/finland-s-data-centers-are-heating-cities-too https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-14/finland-s... ("Finland's Data Centers Are Heating Cities, Too" (2025))