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Time to harness waste heat from data centres


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Data centres produce vast quantities of heat that can be usefully exploited by neighbouring buildings via heat networks while, at the same time, improving the efficiency of the computer facilities themselves. Tim Mitchell, sales director of Klima- Therm, explains


uilding smart cities makes solid business and ethical sense because they help reinvigorate metropolitan areas by promoting economic development, increasing safety, improving the


environment, and reducing the mental stress of their residents.


Among the ways smart cities achieve these benefits is through better road and rail links, upgraded waste and water facilities, revived public spaces, and streamlined public services. These can be accomplished in a variety of ways including by installing sensors in the streets that identify things like empty parking spots and traffic jams, estimate how long the next bus will take to arrive, and measure air and water quality. Another example is the use of sensors to detect the number of pedestrians and dim the street lighting to save electricity when there aren’t any people about. However, one of most effective smart city initiatives is found in the use of intelligent, connected HVAC systems in data centres. These systems can turn heat that would otherwise be lost into a useful source of warmth or hot water for surrounding buildings. Data centres have grown in popularity and power at a staggering rate over the last few years thanks to the development of artificial intelligence and digital services such as social media and streaming. This has, in turn, led to an explosion in the generation of data and the heat associated with producing it. In 2021, for example, the amount of data


produced in the world was estimated to be a whopping 79 zettabytes: that’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes, 79 times. In other words, for each hour that passed in 2021, the world made more bytes of data than there are grains of sand on the Earth. By next year, this figure is expected to double. High-performance computing demands


increasingly powerful computers and the technology to cool them because data generation causes vast quantities of heat which the data centres must expel, ideally to be used elsewhere. Data centres would typically be capable of generating heat output in a water loop at between 30 and 35oC, perhaps even more as the use of direct liquid chip cooling increases, and heat pumps could top this up, boosting the waste heat from the data centre to a high


How heat is recovered from data centres


Data centre heat recovery involves capturing excess heat from computing equipment and using it for other purposes such as heating adjacent buildings. This can help data centres become more sustainable as well as benefitting the local community. Heat can be recovered in several ways, including using heat pumps in a district heat network to cool the data centre, and simultaneously collect the waste heat from the cooling process to be pushed back into the heat network.


This can be connected to buildings located further from the data centre, providing them with heat and hot water via a large network of pipes. The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has estimated that 18% of UK heat could come from these heat networks by 2050 (up from around 2% today). According to a recent study, waste heat


recovery is a promising approach to improve energy efficiency, achieve energy cost savings, and alleviate environmental impacts caused by both carbon emission and waste heat discharge at the same time. Indeed, recovering waste heat from data centres is a no-brainer because it cuts energy consumption, reduces emissions, supports local economies, lowers the operational costs of data centres by reducing electricity demand, and makes these facilities more attractive to environmentally conscious clients.


of around 80oC using the water loop as their heat source. This heat energy could be used in neighbouring buildings to meet domestic hot water demand in washrooms and showers, for example, or even to heat entire buildings. It has been estimated that almost 97% of the electrical energy consumed by data centres could be harnessed in the form of heat. By redirecting this surplus heat towards heating nearby buildings, energy efficiency can be improved and carbon emissions mitigated. This is clearly far better for the environment than ejecting heat uselessly into the atmosphere. Heat pumps are a significant technology for employing the waste heat from data centres because they can take that low-grade heat


and amplify it to a higher temperature. High temperature water-source heat pumps


are particularly effective in data centres to cool servers while simultaneously and directly providing high-grade useful heat. Examples of using data centre waste heat effectively can be seen in a series of projects announced under the Sunak Conservative government that are set to receive £65 million in Whitehall support to deliver cleaner, low-cost heating to thousands of homes and businesses. One of these – for Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation in the London boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent and Ealing – will be the first of its kind to recycle waste heat from large computer systems storing internet data to supply heating for the local community. This project is set to receive £36 million to construct a heat network using waste heat from data centres to provide heating to over 10,000 homes and 250,000m2 of commercial space. A decarbonised future depends on initiatives like waste heat recovery, especially in facilities such as data centres which operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Reducing energy consumption through waste heat recovery translates directly into lower operational costs, as less fuel or electricity is required to meet the facility’s energy needs. But, more importantly, it maximises the use of generated heat and minimises reliance on fossil fuels or other primary energy sources, helping to cut the carbon footprint of data centres and reduce their overall environmental impact.


What is a smart city?


A smart city is a metropolitan area that employs connected digital technology and sensors to collect real-time data and feed this into systems that can improve public and private services.


The University College of Estate Management defines a smart city as “a settlement or place that is made more efficient through extensive use of digital technologies, with the goal of improving the quality of life of its residents and benefitting the environment”. Data can be collected from citizens, devices, buildings, or cameras, or a combination of these. By harnessing the power of smart monitoring and data collection, smart cities enhance the lives of their residents. They achieve this by, among other things, solving urban problems such as poor transportation links and accessibility, social services, and sustainability to makes the live of its citizens easier and more pleasant. Smart cities harness Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as sensors to offer many practical benefits. They can, for example, improve:


• Aspects of city life, including the environment (producing cleaner air and helping tackle the climate emergency challenge).


• Public safety (via surveillance systems). • Transportation (through better traffic management and public transport location tracking).


• Quality of life (by reducing energy bills and improving WiFi services).


Smart cities can also boost economic competitiveness and create new economic development opportunities as well as promoting transparency in governance. And they can use information and communication technologies to improve decision-making through the provision of better quality and more timely information, and engage citizens more comprehensively in the day-to-day running of the cities in which they reside.


20 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2025 Read the latest at: www.bsee.co.uk


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