The Anonymous Widower

British Gas Partners With heata On Trial To Reuse Waste Heat From Data Processing

The title of this post, is the same as that of this news item from Centrica.

This is the sub-heading.

British Gas has partnered with sustainable cloud computing provider, heata, on an innovative trial to explore how harnessing waste heat generated by computer servers can save households money on their bills.

These two paragraphs describe heata’s system.

heata’s innovative model distributes cloud computing workloads to servers in homes. In a data centre, the heat generated during processing is a waste product, and energy-intensive cooling systems are required to stop the servers from overheating.

To overcome this, heata has created a ‘virtual data centre’ – a network of servers distributed in people’s homes. Each server is attached to the home’s hot water cylinder, and as they process data, the heat they generate is transferred into the water. This reduces the energy needed to heat water in the home, and as this is typically provided by gas boilers, it reduces the amount of gas used, lowering the carbon impact as a result. heata pays for the electricity the heata unit uses, which means the household pays less to heat their hot water.

Note.

1. I would expect that future systems would also heat the house.
2. I would be an ideal system for my house, as I have an unusual skin, that is better with a daily bath.
3. I also wash my eyes most days with clean warm water, as they are often full of sleep.
4. heata has a web site.
5. heata has an about page, which describes the company and the technology.
6. heata is supported by British Gas, Innovate UK and Sustainable Futures.
7. Thermify is a similar system.

These three paragraphs describe the trial.

As part of a three-month trial, 10 heata units will be installed in the homes of British Gas employees, and the energy provider’s computing workloads will be processed on these units. As a result British Gas will be providing free hot water for its own employees as a byproduct of their own cloud compute.

The trial will provide feedback around performance and customer experience, as well as demonstrating the associated CO2 and energy cost savings to further co-develop customer propositions in 2025.

According to heata, the devices can provide up to 4kWh of hot water per day, with the technology expected to save households up to £340 per year when offsetting electrically heated hot water, and up to £120 when offsetting gas heated hot water.

I shall certainly think about fitting one.

February 7, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Computing, Energy | British Gas, Centrica, Data Centre, heata, Innovate UK, Sustainable Futures, Thermify