5 ms·
No? It would be inefficient to put a lot of effort and capital into trying to extract useful work from a marginally-above-room-temperature exhaust stream. Somet
by fennecfoxen 13y ago
No? It would be inefficient to put a lot of effort and capital into trying to extract useful work from a marginally-above-room-temperature exhaust stream. Something about thermodynamics and low efficiencies at small temperature gradients :P
- DanBC 13y agoGeothermal heat pumps make use of marginal differences in temperature to provide useful heating and cooling. If you have room temperature exhaust air that's useful for at least keeping rooms at room temperature. But at the moment it's just being vented.
- danpat 13y agoYou're not thinking like someone that lives in a cold place :-P In cold climates, the heat could be distributed to reduce the heating load in other buildings during cold months. Where I live (Alberta, Canada), it's continuously below freezing for at least 3 months, and often below for 2-3 months either side of that. People would be all over getting free heat from a neighbour, even if it was just a little bit.
- dorfsmay 13y agoBut they are on the edge of a small town. By the way, aren't all data centres in Alberta (at least in YYC) just pumping out the heat outside?
- code_duck 13y agoI don't really want I inhale air that has been washed over a room of hot circuit boards. It likely contains flame retardants and plastic fumes.