New Data Center Will Heat Homes In London

1sockchuck writes "The heat generated by thousands of servers at the new Telehouse West data center in London will soon be used to heat nearby houses and businesses. The Greater London Authority has approved a plan in which waste heat from the colocation facility will be used in a district heat network for the local Docklands community. The project is expected to produce up to nine megawatts of power for the local community."

Comments

The best part?

[Anonymous Coward]

It'll work all year round! You'll never feel cold in July ever again, and you may not even need to use your oven to make a roast.

Re:The best part?

[palegray.net]

We're going to see a big rise in nerdy homeowners creating homebrew stirling engines to convert the heat back into power, so as to power their desk fans ;).

Re:The best part?

[91degrees]

Some years we do. We tend to celebrate with a hosepipe ban.

I think there may have been 3 or more days of sun in August 2005.

Great idea

[notarockstar1979]

It's how we used to heat the offices neighboring our server room (and I'm sure many many people did it before I did). Glad to see them using it on a larger scale to save a bit of dosh.

What happens if the Data Center shuts down?

[ben2umbc]

So what happens to these people's heat source if the data center is shut down or becomes obsolete in the future? I would expect the homes to be around much longer than a data center might.

Re:What happens if the Data Center shuts down?

[crafty.munchkin]

That, and my laptop is currently acting as a rather nice heater for my lap.

I hope you don't wind up with a cyst developing in your testicle like I did... and that was only 2 hrs a day on the train using a laptop for 3 months. Admittedly this laptop was a piece of shit that should never have been released with the name laptop, and it got so hot i often would have to shut the bastard down half way through the train ride home as it was going to burn my legs. HTH, HAND.

call me an idealist, but

[waveformwafflehouse]

I smell a new routing protocol that redirects traffic to the cold parts of the world

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

if you stop reading slashdot your grandmother freezes to death?

Humdity

[TapeCutter]

I'm an Aussie living in Melbourne so I get the joke. Occasionaly we get a news report of a London heat wave with a few days around 30degC, old people are dropping dead and young people are splashing around half naked in city fountains. It seem bizzare since a hot day here is 10-15degC hotter and we don't have dramas with old people until it gets around 40 or above.

A few years back I went on my first trip to the UK (at the end of July) we had a 3 day stop over in Hong Kong on the way. Hong Kong was as unbearable as Darwin is in the wet season, 30-35 deg, no breeze and near 100% humidity. As we were approaching London the pilot announced the temprature in London had just broken it's record maximum temp ( 32degC IIRC ). The wife and I snickered at each other...the english have no idea what hot is... We stopped snickering as soon we walked out of the airport and hit a wall of warm humid air that was exactly like Hong Kong or Darwin, the only weather difference between the three places was the pollution levels.

Of course the reason for the discomfort is high humidity from the massive ocean currents that bring warm water from the Gulf of Mexico.