Waste heat from data centers could heat offices and apartments in the future
The idea sounds impressive: the warm air that exists in data centers anyway is supposed to heat houses.
Enge-Sands Data is the basis for restaurant recommendations, voice-controlled speakers, autonomous cars – and sometimes blue-green algae. In Enge-Sande, around 20 minutes by car from the North Frisian coast, the start-up Windcloud has built a data center with a greenhouse on the roof. The heat that the servers emit causes spirulina bacteria with their typical green streaks to sprout one floor up. They like it tropical.
The aim of the experiment is to set up a “climate-positive data center”, as Windcloud boss Stephan Sladek calls it: The system uses Wind energy, of which there is plenty in Schleswig-Holstein. And to add to the climate calculation: additional carbon dioxide is bound through photosynthesis. The Novagreen company markets the algae to the pharmaceutical and food industries, for example.
The project in North Friesland is an example of how the enormous heat generated by data centers can be used as an energy source. The idea sounds in times of Global warming and energy crisis captivating.
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