Data heat

Excess heat from servers in Telehouse West data centre will soon heat home and offices in the Docklands.

The project is expected to produce up to nine megawatts of power for the local community, and allow the 130,000 square foot Telehouse West to reduce its carbon footprint by 1,110 tons. "The energy savings will equate to boiling 3,000 kettles continuously," the company said.

The project is the most most ambitious effort yet to reuse the excess heat from data centres and the first one in the UK. In Switzerland IBM is using excess heat to warm a swimming pool and at Notre Dame University the excess heat from data nodes are used to warm greenhouses and the botanical garden. Really smart thinking and I'm very surprised that it's used at little as it is. Probably because it costs too much, which very often is the case when being environmentally friendly.