WE REALISE THAT WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF FINITE ENERGY WHERE EVERY UNIT OF IT NEEDS TO BE UTILISED INTELLIGENTLY AND SUSTAINABLY .
E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N
MOHAMMAD ROYAPOOR , HEAD OF R & D , RED ENGINEERING
In their more refined moments and when dealing with system level problems , engineers are often reminded of the Laws of Thermodynamics . These three laws are among the only time independent sets of guidelines in natural sciences align . The more intuitive of all is the first law : the conservation of energy . When combined with the second law , it follows that the universe holds a finite amount of energy . The heat that data centres generate is not waste heat but a part of this finite source .
At RED Engineering , we prefer to refer to it as surplus ( rather than waste ) heat . The
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WE REALISE THAT WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF FINITE ENERGY WHERE EVERY UNIT OF IT NEEDS TO BE UTILISED INTELLIGENTLY AND SUSTAINABLY .
progressive incorporation of ‘ recycling ’ and ‘ reusing ’ into both material and energy flows plays a pivotal role on our journey to carbon neutrality . We have conducted techno-economic research into two main catalogues of solutions for surplus heat : utilisation from data centres and other industrial processes .
First is to export the heat to external consumers . As yet , there are a limited number of these installations in operation , with the majority in Nordic countries . The techno-economics of heat export from data centres will be enhanced by the move away from air cooling and the adoption of liquid cooling .
An accurate annual profile of surplus heat from a data centre and heat demand from nearby consumers are critical to successful execution of this option .
The arrival of the latest 5G district energy systems ( running typically at around 28 º C ) will also be a boost to viability of data centre heat export . Equally , the pressure from the regulator to limit data centre heat rejection . This solution could be particularly effective for commercial or residential buildings around data centres which rely on fossil fuel for space heating . It could also aid nearby communities to overcome environmental and social challenges such as air pollution and fuel poverty .
A second solution RED Engineering has explored is data hall heat recovery for internal use . A novel approach we looked at was heating the standby generators jackets ( often referred to as heat soaking ). In one application , we observed that this solution can offer an annual carbon saving of 50 tonnes for a 32MW data centre when benchmarked against direct electric heating of the engines in the relatively moderate climate of London . Each application is of course unique .
Consequently , that is why we have a broad programme of ongoing R & D in which we closely examine the thermal management of microgrids – from surplus heat of the data centre halls to the steam generated using onsite turbines and engines that is then used to drive absorption or steam driven chillers and finally heat export to district energy systems . We realise that we live in a world of finite energy where every unit of it needs to be utilised intelligently and sustainably . �
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