Heat Your Home With a Home Server. Make that a Data Furnace. Really?

By on July 28, 2011 in News, Windows Home Server

Well, the kids are breaking up from school and the summer holidays are finally here. As things slow down, expect to be regaled with tales of the unexpected, the bizarre, the strange and the kooky. Yes, silly season is here and Microsoft are straight out of the gates with a new research paper which argues that we could all be heating our homes in the future, courtesy of servers distributed to us by cloud operators.

The thinking goes that exhaust heat from the servers could be distributed around the home for a variety of purposes, including “home/building space heating, cloth dryers, water heaters and agriculture.” Home servers, begone. This is the age of the data furnace.

According to The Data Furnace: Heating Up with Cloud Computing published by Microsoft Research, cloud operators could save up to $300 per server per year with the plan, whilst consumers benefit from having their data stored in closer proximity.  The paper concludes that  ”a similar approach could be used to heat water tanks, office buildings, apartment complexes, vegetable farms, and large campuses with central facilities.”

So, data furnaces – a viable option for your heating expenses, or simply a lot of hot air? Discuss.

Source: The Independent


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • motr

    Probably it will be cheaper to have servers in cold places, such as the Google facility in Summa, Finland

  • davepermen

    well, as computers and servers at home give me warm since years trough the winter, it makes perfect sense.

    now if they would find out a way to let them cool your home, it would be awesome :)

  • ravenshin

    It's not April 1st!

  • zicoz

    It's not really a new idea, there are many factories that send their "extra heat" out to nearby houses, and even footballfields.

    • Ben

      Actually, Redditch Council uses the wasted heat from its crematorium to heat the swimming pool next door. It saves them £15,000UKP a year.

  • FormerMarineSgt

    I've got my homeserver (11 hard drives) + a domain controller/sql server (yeah, I know they should be seperate) + 3 desktops in my 11 ft. x 12 ft. home office – and I can tell you that room gets downright blazing hot. If I keep the door and window closed it reaches 80 to 85 degrees within hours. On hot days (in the pacific northwest that means anything over 75 degrees) and it far worse. Open door and a couple of box fans to try to keep the room down to reasonable level.

    I can easily see this concept working – whether it's viable or not is a whole different question.

  • Rychek

    As a way to reclaim waste heat, I can see it working. However, from a security and backup strategy stand point, I think not. Having your "cloud storage" sitting in your HVAC closet doesn't give you off-site protection, so it negates the cloud benefit. On the other hand, if your data is being stored in someone else's HVAC closet, you get the off-site benefit, but YOUR data is in SOMEONE ELSE'S home. From a security standpoint, the warm-fuzzies just aren't there. :(

  • James

    what absolute rubbish. yes, the heat could be used to (partially) heat a home…. but as a source of heat for central water heating circuits… i dont think so. and does anyone actually think it is going to be thier own data that is stored on the server living in their house, and only their data??? don't be naive. if my data is in someone elses home, that gives me the heebe jeebies. and being honest and realistic, do we really think the savings made by the cloude server operators will all actually get passed on to the customers…. hmmmmm.

  • Allen

    a typical 2000 sqft home not in Alaska needs at least 80,000 btus. if you calculate 3.4 btus per Watt. It will take quite a few servers to heat your home.