via Smart Energy International
Summary
British Gas and cloud computing provider heata have partnered on a trial to explore how the use of a ‘virtual data centre’ can reuse waste heat from data processing for water heating.
heata’s model distributes cloud computing workloads to servers in homes. In a data centre, the heat generated during processing is a waste product, and energy-intensive cooling systems are required to stop the servers from overheating.
To overcome this, heata has created a ‘virtual data centre’ – a network of servers distributed in people’s homes. Each server is attached to the home’s hot water cylinder, and as they process data, the heat they generate is transferred into the water.
This reduces the energy needed to heat water in the home, and as this is typically provided by gas boilers, it reduces the amount of gas used, lowering the carbon impact. heata pays for the electricity the heata unit uses, which means the household pays less to heat their hot water.
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