BT dips toe into liquid cooling in quest for a chill network

BT is to trial liquid cooling solutions in a bid to improve energy consumption and efficiency across its networks and IT infrastructure. The UK's former state-owned telecoms operator said it is trying out several liquid cooling technologies in line with commitments to becoming a net zero business by 2031. The chance that it …

[alain williams]

Even better

would be looking at how to recycle the extracted heat to somewhere that needs it, eg homes or offices in Winter.

[Rahbut]

Re: Even better

They could supply homes with the heat using copper... oh wait.

Have always been interested in why heat in (for example) data centres couldn't be harvested for power generation or communal heating.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: Even better

Power generation is largely out as the temperature difference is too small, and your usual heat engine's thermodynamic efficiency limit is based on the ratio of absolute temperatures so a 10-20K difference on 280K or so would lead to really low efficiency of extraction.

District heating, where you just want to take a chill off rooms in winter, etc, is another matter and only issue is the cost of infrastructure - i.e. pluming in homes.

[Christopher Reeve's Horse]

Re: Even better

Even better is to tie in to a localised heat demand. A combined datacentre / swimming pool would seem to be the ideal candidate?

[DJO]

Re: Even better

With heat pumps all sorts of energy transfer is possible. I know there's at least one skating rink/swimming pool combo where the heat taken from the rink to freeze it is used to heat the pool.

Anywhere low grade heat is useful, swimming pools obviously but also greenhouses, district heating, pre-heating where higher temperatures are needed etc. etc. etc.

[Mishak]

Already been done

In Devon

[Code For Broke]

Re: Even better

I believe Intel, Nvidia and AMD recently announced a shared initiative to make their CPUs even more inefficient in order to increase the waste heat they can produce. By this means, the companies hope to help eliminate the climate challenge by providing "green heating" to millions.

[DS999]

It makes more sense

To site near an industrial park that will have something that can use all the heat, rather than try to spread it out over a bunch of homes where a lot will be lost in transit over a wider area. Most places with strong zoning laws would require datacenters to be located in such an area anyway.

I know a lot end up being put in commercial parks near offices and stuff, but that makes no sense to me. You have other places where a lot of people go, i.e. places with windows and big parking lots - where chain restaurants and maybe a hotel might want to open near. Or least would in the days before work at home, maybe less so now. Then you have this concrete tomb with no windows and a tiny parking lot where almost no one works. It doesn't fit in, and it makes a crapton of noise when they test their diesel generators. The really big ones have an electrical substation next door. They belong in industrial parks.

[s. pam]

Have they called Thames Water?

TW leaks water by the billions of litres all the time, as reported in the media all over.

Perhaps, they could approach TW and get them to feed nice cool water to them.

Oh, it's Friday and I need to start drinking copious amounts of booze..