Exploit the heat generated by the energy – a lot of it – consumed by data center to heat domestic environments and also the water from the shower or even a swimming pool. It is the last frontier of green transition, which as we know requires not only producing as much as possible clean energy, but also not to waste and recycle climate-altering energy or in any case already used for other tasks, such as data centers, those invisible places on which our industrial activities and our economies in general depend to a large extent.
How much does a data center consume
Thanks to the technology of the American company equinix, already present in some European countries (including France and Germany, but not Italy) and which will debut in front of the general public at the next Paris Olympics, these particularly energy-intensive systems effectively become boilers, thanks to a creative and virtuous circular economy mechanism. In fact, a 30 MW data center today consumes the energy equivalent of a city with 30 thousand inhabitants, and according to forecasts, this figure will worsen with the growth of artificial intelligence.
Here's how to export data center heat
But there is a way to patch things up, and indeed to reverse the situation in favor of the environment. Equinix has developed a system to export the heat generated by data centers, measured between 25 and 30 degrees: it is first used to heat water coils, after which it is channeled onto a heat exchange plate, whose goal is to redirect the thermal energy towards a second water pipe, which reaches a temperature between 60 and 90 degrees, more than sufficient to effectively become a water heater and heat the water from the shower but also of a swimming pool or any domestic heating system. Speaking of swimming pools, Equinix, as mentioned, was involved for the Paris 2024 Olympics, which the organizing committee wanted to be as green as possible (to the point of banning, amid controversy, the use ofair conditioning in the Olympic village): the water of the Center Aquatique Olympique in the French capital, which will host the swimming competitions and more, will be heated thanks to the technology of the American company, also active in Canada, Switzerland, Finland and recently in Brazil.
To put this into perspective, a 20 GW data center generates enough energy to heat 100 swimming pools or 4.500 homes. At least today, given that according to estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA) data center consumption globally will go from 460 TWh calculated in 2022 to over 1.000 TWh in 2026, which will mean more demand for electricity but also more possibilities to exploit the heat produced and not leave it wasted. From the computer to the radiator, in an instant.
