Don't know about US, but I work within European Datacenter where we intend to have excess heat to be used for residential building heating [1]. You must be in proximity of the consumer for this to be possible. Not necessarily center is needed, but even then, DCs can be pretty :)
For example our office is heated using heatpump that has >22C of water heated by equipment as a source.
> excess heat to be used for residential building heating
In the late 90s I worked at an insurance company in leafy Surrey[1]. I was told that they used to use their IBM mainframe to heat the swimming pool[2] effectively for free; when they upgraded they had to buy and run a heating system for the pool as the new mainframe didn't pump out enough heat.
[1] In England, south west suburbs of London to be precise.
[2] yes it had an indoor pool, badminton courts, outdoor tennis courts and other facilities - a great place to work.
> residential buildings at the mercy of DC load.
Thousands of people Google "why is my building cold" causing the AI DC to wake up and pump out heat. AI sees the heat and reports "heating is on, you're fine" then shuts down.
philipwhiuk · · focus · HN ↗
jve · · focus · HN ↗
For example our office is heated using heatpump that has >22C of water heated by equipment as a source.
<a href="https://delska.com/about/news-resources/delska-newsroom/president-of-latvia-visits-delskas-new-data-center/" rel="nofollow">https://delska.com/about/news-resources/delska-newsroom/pres...
Steve44 · · focus · HN ↗
In the late 90s I worked at an insurance company in leafy Surrey[1]. I was told that they used to use their IBM mainframe to heat the swimming pool[2] effectively for free; when they upgraded they had to buy and run a heating system for the pool as the new mainframe didn't pump out enough heat.
[1] In England, south west suburbs of London to be precise.
[2] yes it had an indoor pool, badminton courts, outdoor tennis courts and other facilities - a great place to work.
jve · · focus · HN ↗
And the way things are structured is that heating is amended and not exactly a direct connection to residential buildings at the mercy of DC load.
Steve44 · · focus · HN ↗
Thousands of people Google "why is my building cold" causing the AI DC to wake up and pump out heat. AI sees the heat and reports "heating is on, you're fine" then shuts down.
They are now stuck in a cycle.