Data Centers and District Heating | GreenerComputing

From "Giant Data Center to Heat London Homes," by Tom Young:

An £80m (US $130.3 million) green data center under construction in east London will use 9 megawatts (MW) of surplus heat created by racks of servers to power residential and business properties in the surrounding area. ...

The decision to install the waste heat system was in part driven by strict regulations from the Greater London Authority (GLA) which stipulate that all new buildings of more than 1,000 square meters must generate 20 percent of their electricity from renewables. ...

Although the waste heat capture technology is roughly equivalent to providing 10 percent of the building's energy needs using renewables, the combination of the site's technical constraints and the fact the waste heat would be provided for nothing to local buildings convinced planners to authorise the project. ...

The system will use the heat generated by computer servers to heat water which will be circulated in pipes to more than 1,000 homes in the area. The cooled water will then return to the datacentre to be heated again.

Hat tip: Daniel E.