4 ms·

> This "waste heat" system is a closed loop of efficiency. The 60+ kilowatts of heat energy produced by a storage cluster is not a byproduct to be eliminated bu

> This "waste heat" system is a closed loop of efficiency. The 60+ kilowatts of heat energy produced by a storage cluster is not a byproduct to be eliminated but a resource to be harvested. Are there any other data centers harvesting waste heat for benefit?

bilegeek 9mo ago
Several swimming pools do to great effect: https://datacentremagazine.com/data-centres/excess-data-centre-heat-used-to-warm-olympic-swimming-pools https://datacentremagazine.com/data-centres/excess-data-cent... https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64939558 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64939558 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/free-data-center-heat-is-allegedly-saving-a-struggling-public-pool-24k-a-year/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/free-...
deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
stanac 9mo ago
Yandex had a data center in Finland,, not sure if it's still operational. It was heating 1500 homes with 4 MW. https://www.euroheat.org/dhc/knowledge-hub/datacentre-supplies-local-heating-in-maentsaelae-finland https://www.euroheat.org/dhc/knowledge-hub/datacentre-suppli...
miduil 9mo ago
Yes, plenty - sometimes data centers are built together with apartment or office complexes for this particular purpose. Unfortunately that already pinpoints the core limitation, due to the low-temperature of the data centers. The higher the temperature difference is, the more affective heating becomes - with air cooled systems it requires preparation to ensure that can be used for heating. Also data centers need physical space, and often - you need heating where there is not a lot of space (cities), and for "district heating" you need higher temperatures usually.
cloud-oak 9mo ago
The EU mandates that all large data centres built/commissioned from July this year will make use of waste heat: https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/germany/rechenzentren-und-abwaerme-ein-ueberblick-ueber-die-gesetzlichen-vorgaben-zur-abwaermenutzung https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/germany/rechenzent...
- londons_explore 9mo ago
  Sounds like part of the reason all the biggest AI data centers are being built outside the EU...
  - Dr4kn 9mo ago
    It's more like there are a lot of building restrictions and fines. Overloading the local power systems. Building illegal turbines. If you can get paid on your waste heat why wouldn't you like that?
    - fragmede 9mo ago
      "can" and "must" are two different situations.
stingraycharles 9mo ago
I know that ~ 15 years ago we were already using datacenters in The Netherlands that were used to heat houses in a city. I do vaguely remember that the economics of it all were not great, but it’s definitely a thing for quite a while already.

bilegeek 9mo ago

Several swimming pools do to great effect: https://datacentremagazine.com/data-centres/excess-data-centre-heat-used-to-warm-olympic-swimming-pools https://datacentremagazine.com/data-centres/excess-data-cent... https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64939558 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64939558 https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/free-data-center-heat-is-allegedly-saving-a-struggling-public-pool-24k-a-year/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/free-...

deleted 9mo ago

[deleted]

stanac 9mo ago

Yandex had a data center in Finland,, not sure if it's still operational. It was heating 1500 homes with 4 MW. https://www.euroheat.org/dhc/knowledge-hub/datacentre-supplies-local-heating-in-maentsaelae-finland https://www.euroheat.org/dhc/knowledge-hub/datacentre-suppli...

miduil 9mo ago

Yes, plenty - sometimes data centers are built together with apartment or office complexes for this particular purpose. Unfortunately that already pinpoints the core limitation, due to the low-temperature of the data centers. The higher the temperature difference is, the more affective heating becomes - with air cooled systems it requires preparation to ensure that can be used for heating. Also data centers need physical space, and often - you need heating where there is not a lot of space (cities), and for "district heating" you need higher temperatures usually.

cloud-oak 9mo ago

The EU mandates that all large data centres built/commissioned from July this year will make use of waste heat: https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/germany/rechenzentren-und-abwaerme-ein-ueberblick-ueber-die-gesetzlichen-vorgaben-zur-abwaermenutzung https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2024/germany/rechenzent...

londons_explore 9mo ago
Sounds like part of the reason all the biggest AI data centers are being built outside the EU...
- Dr4kn 9mo ago
  It's more like there are a lot of building restrictions and fines. Overloading the local power systems. Building illegal turbines. If you can get paid on your waste heat why wouldn't you like that?
  - fragmede 9mo ago
    "can" and "must" are two different situations.

stingraycharles 9mo ago

I know that ~ 15 years ago we were already using datacenters in The Netherlands that were used to heat houses in a city. I do vaguely remember that the economics of it all were not great, but it’s definitely a thing for quite a while already.