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Datacenters: the central heating systems of the future?
Image by bugeaters (source: Flickr)
Researchers from Microsoft and the University of Virginia are developing the idea to use cloud computing data servers as central heating units in private homes. In their paper, entitled The Data Furnace: Heating Up with Cloud Computing“, the academic researchers argue that data servers could easily be installed in homes and office buildings and could be used as a source of heating.
Traditional data centers housing hundreds of computers are intensive power users. In the United States alone, they account for nearly 1,5 % of total energy consumption, and the current trend of cloud computing is believed to further increase that share in the future.
A big part of the energy consumed by data centers goes to cooling systems, to keep servers and computers from over-heating. With this new approach, the researchers are looking for ways to recuperate the produced heat, instead of wasting extra energy trying to cool the units down.
In order to make their plan work, nothing extraordinary needs to happen. The small data centers (containing forty to four hundred processors) can easily be integrated in the existing central heating as a conventional electric heater. Because installation is fairly easy, and existing infrastructure of houses and offices can be used to house the small data centers, no new space needs to be created and the cost per server, alongside the energy gain, is also significantly reduced.
Tags: cloud computing, data centers, data servers, data servers home heating systems, energy recycling, heating system, Microsoft, the data furnace: heating up with cloud computing, university of virginia
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