Faced with concerns about emissions and dependence on other countries for energy, many European nations are turning to existing technology to heat their homes.
The continent is already home to numerous data centers operated by some of the biggest tech companies that use massive amounts of energy to keep computers hot and running server cool.
The enormous amount of heat generated as a by-product of storing our growing database is usually removed through the use of air conditioning or cooling towers, meaning the heat is wasted. However, more and more data centers are now using this excess heat to heat houses and buildings.
Data centers for heating
In Denmark, Meta has been recovering excess heat from its Odense data center since 2020 and hopes to heat the equivalent of 11,000 homes next year.
Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon have all begun planning similar moves, while Alphabet has also committed to exploring the opportunities involved.
Ten Dutch data centers are already connected to district heating systems that distribute the excess heat to nearby houses and buildings, and another 15 are in the pipeline.
Using data centers to heat homes has numerous advantages. It reduces demand for fossil fuels, which are typically used to heat homes in Europe. Added to this is the potential to reduce carbon emissions, as data centers are often already powered by renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.
In France and Denmark, national and local governments are said to have introduced tax incentives for smarter use of excess heat, while some building permits require additional heat recovery.
In addition to heating homes, data centers are also used to heat greenhouses, allowing farmers to grow crops all year round. According to Jeroen Burks (via whole grain digital (opens in new tab)), the founder of a data center in the Netherlands, a 180 kW data center could heat up to 5,000 m2 of greenhouse space during the winter months: enough to produce 250 tons of tomatoes.
Using data centers to heat homes and buildings is becoming increasingly popular in Europe and is expected to increase in the coming years. It’s a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to heat homes and other buildings, and it demonstrates the many ways technology can be used to address some of the recent challenges facing the continent, and indeed the world.
above Wall Street Journal (opens in new tab)
