Could heat from the processing power of computers help to keep us warm?
British Gas has partnered with sustainable cloud computing provider Heata, to trial an innovative way to do exactly that.
The aim is to reuse waste heat from data processing, helping households save money on hot water bills.
Heata’s system distributes cloud computing workloads across a network of servers installed in homes. These servers are attached to hot water cylinders, transferring waste heat from data processing into the home’s water supply.
This reduces the need for gas or electric heating, lowering household costs and cutting carbon emissions.
As part of the three-month trial, 10 Heata units will be installed in the homes of British Gas employees.
British Gas will transfer its own computing workloads to these servers, effectively providing free hot water for its employees as a byproduct of its cloud computing.
According to Heata, each unit can generate up to 4kWh of hot water per day, saving households up to £340 annually when offsetting electric heating and £120 when offsetting gas heating.
“This trial with British Gas is an exciting step,” said Chris Jordan, co-founder of Heata. “By thinking differently about how we build and use data processing infrastructure, we can use a byproduct of this boom to help support our communities and reduce the carbon impact of compute at the same time.”
The trial will assess performance, customer experience and energy savings, with plans to expand in 2025.
