Pooling Data Center Heat

By Jeff Feinman

June 16, 2008 —  There is much concern surrounding excess heat from data centers nowadays. Large quantities of heat can have an adverse effect on the environment, and they can cost companies much to have the proper cooling to counter this data center issue. However, some companies have come up with creative ways to recycle this data center heat and channel it in other ways.

IBM is taking a dip into a project that’s using this data center runoff to heat a public swimming pool in Uitikon, Switzerland. In the data center that IBM built for Swiss IT service provider GIB-Services, air conditioners will cool the machines and pump hot air out. Instead of venting the hot air outdoors like most centers, the Uitikon facility will utilize heat exchangers to heat water that will be pumped into the neighboring pool.

IBM claims that recycling the heat will save approximately 130 tons of carbon emissions, which is a similar discharge of mid-sized cars driving 500,000 miles. The company also said the heat emitted from the data center is enough to warm 80 homes.

“Theoretically, it is possible to reuse up to 90 percent of the electric power required for operating a data center as heat energy,” said Steve Sams, vice president of IBM global site and facilities services.

In similar fashion, Intel has designed a system that captures data center heat and uses it to warm offices and heat water. Intel executives said the system prevents hot air from mixing with cold air and can work with a cold chilled-water system of 55 degrees instead of 42, which saves energy in running the chilled-water plant. As a result, Intel was able to raise condenser water temperature up and use it as a water-heating source. This can save approximately US$235,000 annually, the company said.

One of the benefits of using excess data center heat in this fashion is that data centers produce heat year-round, Intel said. It can warm the building during winter and provide hot water for kitchens and bathrooms all year.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refers to these measures as distributed generation technologies, and the agency said it can reduce pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. A full rack of blade servers can require up to 20-25 kilowatts of power to operate, which is the equivalent of about 15 houses, according to the EPA. Almost 60 percent of this energy can go to waste since it is only used for cooling and not actual IT function, which is why reusing this heat can be important to the environment and a company’s wallet.



Related Search Term(s): Cooling, data centers, HVAC, IBM, Intel

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