David Gardiner and Associates (DGA) produced two resources that examine the merits and potential applications of data center heat reuse. Data centers produce large amounts of heat and must use air conditioning to cool it — otherwise, their servers could overheat and fail. Roughly 40% of data center electricity use is devoted to cooling, according to the Department of Energy. But there are many viable ways to reuse that waste heat.
The following resources explore this topic in depth:
1. Data Centers Heat Reuse 101
In collaboration with the Open Compute Project, DGA developed the guide, “Data Centers Heat Reuse 101,” which answers several foundational questions, including when and why heat reuse is beneficial; what makes a good heat host; and who gets the CO2 emissions reduction from heat reuse.
2. Data Center Waste: Turning Heat Into Productive Use
In a study commissioned by Intel, DGA identified four uses for waste heat from liquid cooled data centers. Each application involves during that waste into a commercial product and presents an opportunity to lower costs and carbon emissions for both data centers and end-users.
