UK-first technology heats public swimming pools for free
Deep Green , a British startup , has announced the launch of a UK-first technology that supplies free heat to local businesses and public swimming pools , reducing their energy bills and cutting their reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuel boilers .
Deep Green ’ s ‘ digital boiler ’ technology is a cloud data centre that efficiently transforms the heat from its servers into useful hot water for local businesses . It is installed on-site at swimming pools or businesses with consistent heat needs , such as bakeries , distilleries , laundrettes and blocks of flats .
Exmouth Leisure Centre in Devon is the first site in the country to benefit from heat-recapture by cloud data centres . The surplus heat donated to the leisure centre by Deep Green ’ s unit will reduce the pool ’ s gas requirements by 62 %, saving it over £ 20,000 a year and reduce its carbon emissions by 25.8 tonnes .
There are over 1,500 pools in England alone that could all benefit . Energy costs for leisure facilities have increased 150 % since 2019 and an estimated 79 % face closure .
Using the latest immersion cooling technology , Deep Green captures heat from the operating data centre servers , transferring it into the site ’ s existing hot water system , for free . Around 96 % of the heat generated by a Deep Green ‘ digital boiler ’ is recycled .
The installation in Exmouth Leisure Centre contains 12 servers of the highest grade computer equipment and is able to support a number of computing services such as cloud services , Artificial Intelligence , Machine Learning and video rendering .
The installation in Exmouth will soon be followed by further installations in Bristol and Manchester in the coming weeks . Beyond pools , 30 % of industrial and commercial heat needs could be provided by this technology .
Mark Bjornsgaard , CEO of Deep Green , said : “ Data is critical to modern society and demand for data centres is growing exponentially . However , this comes at a cost . Current data centre infrastructure is inefficient , using a huge amount of energy and generating a vast amount of waste heat . Yet , at the same time , there are many businesses that need heat and face increasing energy bills .
“ By moving data centres from industrial warehouses into the hearts of communities , our ‘ digital boilers ’ put waste heat to good use , saving local businesses thousands of pounds on energy bills and reducing their carbon footprint . Pools are just the start and around 30 % of all industrial and commercial heat needs could be provided by this technology .
“ Organisations that are serious about supporting society and reducing their carbon emissions should not forget the massive impact of their computing needs . Deep Green now provides an answer .” � intelligent POWER AND COOLING www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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