IT NEEDS TO BE DRIVEN BY LEGISLATION AND THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD COME UP WITH A PLAN FOR SERIOUS TARGETS FOR REUSING HEAT FROM DATA CENTRES . the heat and what the criteria to collect the heat is , as well as what technology is required – as has happened in Germany .
E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N
With more than 25 years ’ experience within the mission critical industry and over 30 years within the engineering design and construction sector , I have witnessed that in our industry , waste heat hasn ’ t been considered for a long time and that is a great shame . It has meant that huge amounts of waste heat have been extracted into the atmosphere .
Data centres are after all consuming 3 – 3.5 % of the world ’ s energy . It ’ s not surprising therefore that many European countries , especially the Nordics have started to engage with this issue and certainly earlier than the UK .
This is an obvious move given data centres are generating such a large heat output .
The UK has for launched an initiative in this area at the end of 2023 , with a funds of around £ 65 million available for infrastructure relating to the waste heat from data centres . While there have previously been inroads made by the private sector , this is the first solid step from the public sector in terms of readiness to collect all this waste heat . It needs to be driven by legislation and the government should come up with a plan for serious targets for reusing heat from data centres .
In Germany , they have already set targets for 2026 whereby a minimum of 10 % of waste heat should be given back to the community , with that figure rising to 20 % by 2028 . I would like to see this enforcement for the UK , as this will drive further discussion about how to collect
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IT NEEDS TO BE DRIVEN BY LEGISLATION AND THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD COME UP WITH A PLAN FOR SERIOUS TARGETS FOR REUSING HEAT FROM DATA CENTRES . the heat and what the criteria to collect the heat is , as well as what technology is required – as has happened in Germany .
From the data centre side , the infrastructure is already in place for a few areas in London , such as Hammersmith , Fulham and Brent . With this government funding , it will enable the infrastructure like the pipework to be created to link up with local communities , along with the potential to generate enough energy for 250,000 homes which could be sold at a cheaper price . If you consider that possibility , it really is a no brainer . It ’ s not just national government though , everybody has to share this drive towards the next step in heat reuse from contractors and designers to local authorities and manufacturers .
SALIH TOYRAN , DIRECTOR , MISSION CRITICAL BUSINESS LEAD , CHAPMANBDSP
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