A new program which allows the heat released by data centers to be used to heat municipal swimming pools is being developed in the United Kingdom.
With the war in Ukraine, and the end of the supply of hydrocarbons from Russia to Europe, the countries of the Old Continent have increased innovations in an attempt to find cheap energy. The United Kingdom, for example, presented a system at the beginning of last spring which would allow municipal swimming pools to be heated using data centers. A model that seems to work, since it will be deployed en masse.
A program dedicated to 150 swimming pools
Installing a data center under a swimming pool, to release the heat released by the computers directly into the swimming pool circuit, it works! The experiment carried out last year in Exmouth, in collaboration with the start-up Deep Green, was so successful that it will move to a new stage of development.
Octopus Energy, specializing in the supply of green electricity, will allocate 200 million pounds (around 232 million euros) to replicate this experience throughout the British territory. In total, nearly 150 swimming pools will benefit from this system in the future.
A 60% bill reduction
The innovation seems all the more desirable as it makes it possible to heat swimming pools with the help of energy which previously was dissipated in a vacuum, while participating in a ” heat transfer to the pool [qui] cools computers » according to the newspaper The Guardian. However, cooling by air conditioning in data centers is generally a significant cost, which disappears here.
For their part, swimming pools should see their electricity bill drop by 60%. Enough to clearly interest the country’s establishments, but also other players, as explained by Deep Green boss Mark Bjornsgaard. “ It’s no longer just about swimming pools. A wide variety of other potential partners are interested in the free heat produced by our computers, such as district heating networks » he enthused. The future ?
Source : International mail
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