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Amazon: Heat From Data Centers Will Be Used as a Furnace (vox.com)
Vox reports on Amazon's recent push for "corporate sustainability":
It plans to have 15 rooftop solar systems, with a total capacity of around 41 MW, deployed atop fulfillment centers by the end of this year, with plans to have 50 such systems installed by 2020. Amazon was the lead corporate purchaser of green energy in 2016. That year, it also announced its largest wind energy project to date, the 253 MW Amazon Wind Farm Texas. Overall, the company says, it has "announced or commenced construction on wind and solar projects that will generate a total of 3.6 million megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually."
But here's the most interesting part. GeekWire reports: Amazon is moving ahead with a unique plan to use heat generated from data centers in the nearby Westin Building to warm some of its new buildings downtown. The system transfers the heat from the data centers via water piped underground to the Amazon buildings. The water is then returned to the Westin Building once it's cooled down to help cool the data centers. The setup will be unusual. "Certainly there are other people using waste heat from server farms but you don't hear a lot about tying it in with buildings across the street from each other," said Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien.
But here's the most interesting part. GeekWire reports: Amazon is moving ahead with a unique plan to use heat generated from data centers in the nearby Westin Building to warm some of its new buildings downtown. The system transfers the heat from the data centers via water piped underground to the Amazon buildings. The water is then returned to the Westin Building once it's cooled down to help cool the data centers. The setup will be unusual. "Certainly there are other people using waste heat from server farms but you don't hear a lot about tying it in with buildings across the street from each other," said Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien.
"Certainly there are other people using waste heat from server farms but you don't hear a lot about tying it in with buildings across the street from each other" ummm no, this is actually the common use case when heating buildings from datacenter waste heat, in fact I can't think of an example where it was anything but this type of setup (I am sure there are but they would not be the norm as most datacenters don't have large office spaces in to make it worthwhile)
>"They don't have to care about the conservation of resources, and yet, they do."
In this particular example, however, there is nothing altruistic about it- using waste heat just makes economic sense. Unless, of course, there is so little heat that paying for the infrastructure to reuse it doesn't make sense. Doing the "right" thing often is right for many reasons. It is the best kind of right.
Just like what primarily drives solar, wind, and other renewables. We can believe it is for some "save the earth" type concept, or we can know for a fact that it points the way to national energy independence, reduces dependence on a fragile grid, lessens foreign violence, and is actually a good investment as it never runs out and won't see ever increasing costs.