According to a recent New Scientist Magazine (8/03/08), data centres worldwide consume 120 billion kwatt hrs of electricity and produce 2% global CO2 and rising. About half of this is used to keep the servers cool. So IBM engineers in Switzerland have designed a new way of cooling the microchip surface using water piped into slabs positioned above the heat generating chip surface. In theory, about 75% of this heat could be recovered. The article suggested that a future medium sized data centre (around 1 Megawatt consumption) would be able to heat about 70 homes, in areas such as Europe where heating is an essential.
On a more basic level, I also heard of a Pizza Restaurant redirecting excess heat from the ovens to provide a really cosy environment in winter. That's got to be good for reducing the overall electricity bill as well as for the planet. So, how much waste heat is your business generating each day, and where else could this excess heat be used?
picture called data centre floor by alexmuse ex flickr
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