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.
- I would expect that future systems would also heat the house.
- I would be an ideal system for my house, as I have an unusual skin, that is better with a daily bath.
- I also wash my eyes most days with clean warm water, as they are often full of sleep.
- heata has a web site.
- heata has an about page, which describes the company and the technology.
- heata is supported by British Gas, Innovate UK and Sustainable Futures.
- 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.
£10bn Investment In AI Data Centre Confirmed
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This was the sub-heading.
A £10bn investment in a new artificial intelligence data centre will create about 4,000 jobs, the government has said.
These two paragraphs add more details.
The site in Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland, will become one of Europe’s biggest AI data centres.
The land was bought by private equity giant Blackstone earlier this year, after the collapse of Britishvolt which had planned to build an electric car battery factory on the site.
In My First Trip On The Northumberland Line – 18th December 2024, I said this after my first trip to the line.
The Blyth Valley Is Well Supplied With Electricity
Several high-capacity connections to wind farms and Norway are planned to come ashore at Blyth and it appears from the pictures that the area is well connected to the grid.
This must have nudged Britishvolt to put their battery plant at Blyth.
But no matter for those jobs, as with a rail service to Greater Geordieland and lots of electricity, there must be other energy-hungry businesses like datacentres or small modular reactor factories, who would want the site.
The Long Platforms
I am fairly sure that some of the platforms have been sized to take a five-car Hitachi Class 80x train, which are only 130 metres long and can carry around 400 passengers.
This must enable the ability to use the Northumberland Line as a diversion for the East Coast Main Line.
Some services could perhaps stop at Blyth for the large factories and/or Northumberland Park for the Metro.
It looks to me, that the Northumberland line was designed for large factories or businesses with lots of workers, that needed lots of electricity.
My First Trip On The Northumberland Line – 18th December 2024
Yesterday, I took Lumo to Newcastle and took my first ride to Ashington on the Northumberland Line.
These are some of the pictures I took.
Note.
- Much of the route is double-track.
- Bridges over the tracks indicate, that some stations will have two platforms.
- I suspect some stations could take a five-car train.
- One guy said that there is a lot of landscaping to do.
- The standard is very similar to the Borders Railway.
I have some other thoughts.
The Blyth Valley Is Well Supplied With Electricity
Several high-capacity connections to wind farms and Norway are planned to come ashore at Blyth and it appears from the pictures that the area is well connected to the grid.
This must have nudged Britishvolt to put their battery plant at Blyth.
But no matter for those jobs, as with a rail service to Greater Geordieland and lots of electricity, there must be other energy-hungry businesses like datacentres or small modular reactor factories, who would want the site.
The Long Platforms
I am fairly sure that some of the platforms have been sized to take a five-car Hitachi Class 80x train, which are only 130 metres long and can carry around 400 passengers.
This must enable the ability to use the Northumberland Line as a diversion for the East Coast Main Line.
Some services could perhaps stop at Blyth for the large factories and/or Northumberland Park for the Metro.
It looks to me, that the Northumberland line was designed for large factories or businesses with lots of workers, that needed lots of electricity.
Development North Of Ashington
This OpenRailwayMap shows the area North of Ashington.
Note.
- The orange line going up and down the map is the East Coast Main Line.
- Morpeth station is in the South-West corner of the map.
- Ashington station is in the South-East corner of the map.
I think there might be scope to develop this area to make the heavy components needed for wind farms and small modular reactors,
Why Artemis Was Fast
Some of you will know, that I wrote Artemis; the project management software system in the 1970s.
It was generally accepted, that Artemis could do project management calculations, quicker than other software and this obviously helped it gain a high market share.
Here’s why!
In the 1950s and 1960s, computers were much smaller and very efficient algorithms were developed to handle large amounts of information in a small amount of memory.
Nowadays, I suspect obvious and very inefficient algorithms are used because programmers are very lazy.
When I was writing Artemis; the project management system in the 1970s, I spent many hours finding these old algorithms in IBM’s library, so consequently the software was faster, than its competitors.
Modern Data Centres
I wouldn’t be surprised to find, that data centres use so much electricity and get so hot, because they use stupid algorithms, that would have been rejected by IBM in the 1950s.
Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?
There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.
These are the first three paragraphs of the article.
Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.
The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.
The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?
This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.
Note.
- The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
- Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
- Anglesey in the South-West corner.
- Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.
Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.
Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay
At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.
- Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
- North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
- Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
- Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
- Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
- West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
- Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
- Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
- Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned
Note.
- 2509 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
- That is a total of 6489 MW
I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.
Mersey Tidal Power
The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.
If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.
It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.
In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.
Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!
I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.
Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal
In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.
In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.
If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?
500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!
Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa
These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.
- Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
- Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
- Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.
As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.
How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?
I found this paragraph in an NESO document.
Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.
Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.
Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.
Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America
Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.
Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.
Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?
This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably
These three paragraphs detail the research.
Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.
Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.
I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.
But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.
London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year
New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.
- Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
- , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
- The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
- High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.
Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.
With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.
Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains
Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.
The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.
These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.
Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports
There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.
- For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
- For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.
I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.
North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition
Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.
Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.
Liverpool Is A World City
Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.
Conclusion
Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.
Schneider Electric: Vertical Farming – The Next Yield In Data Centre Sustainability
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Intelligent Data Centres.
This is the sub-heading.
David Abrahams, Key Client Manager, Cloud and Service Partners at Schneider Electric UK and Ireland, discusses vertical farming and the next yield in data centre sustainability. He outlines new data centre sustainability strategies, vertical farming solutions and how data centres can apply already existent models which will allow plants and crops to thrive in unique Growth Towers.
These are the first two paragraphs.
As data centres begin to reach their physical sustainability limits without redefining the laws of physics, vertical farming could provide a new solution to the decarbonisation challenge, creating a symbiotic environment for both data and nature to benefit one another.
Coined by some as the fourth revolution in agriculture, vertical farms today provide closed conditions which deliver major sustainability benefits including limited or zero use of pesticides, while ensuring the farm is safe from extreme weather-related events such as high temperatures, humidity, floods and fires.
The last section is called Making The Concept A Reality, where these are the first three paragraphs.
Equinix has already taken the leap and has become the first global operator to develop a fully functioning vertical farm at its PA10 Paris data centre, creating a 4600 sq.ft greenhouse which is surrounded by 61,000 sq.ft of garden space.
The vertical farm is kept at an ideal growing temperature, using heat exchangers linked to the data centre’s chilled water-cooling system with sensors that monitor internal and external temperatures and humidity levels. With such available technology, farmers will be able to make real-time changes to their growing conditions to achieve higher yields at lower energy. This could be a game changer considering the greater strain on the global food supply chain and the general cost of energy.
With increased demands for efficiency and sustainability, both data centre and agricultural sectors are under the greatest scrutiny. The idea of data centre and farming worlds collaborating to create a circular economy to help futureproof both industries is not only exciting but unveils a world of new decarbonisation opportunities.
It strikes me that combining a data centre and a vertical farm could be a marriage made in eco-heaven.
I suggest you read all the original article.
Google Starts Building £790m Site In Hertfordshire
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Google has invested $1bn (£790m) to build its first UK data centre
These are the first four paragraphs.
The tech giant said construction had started at a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and hoped it would be completed by 2025.
Google stressed it was too early to say how many jobs would be created but it would need engineers, project managers, data centre technicians, electricians, catering and security personnel.
The prime minister said it showed the UK had “huge potential for growth”.
The project marked the latest investment by a major US tech firm in Britain, after Microsoft announced it would invest £2.5bn to expand data centres for artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK.
Note.
- By “completed by 2025” do they mean completed before 2025 or completed by the end of 2025. Judging by the time they took to build their London HQ, its the latter.
- Rishi is right about the UK having a huge potential for growth! Especially, if the nihilists of the United States vote in the Big Orange!
- Judging by the total spend of £2.5 billion on data centres and the £790 million for this one, this looks to be the first of three.
But where is this data centre going to be built?
This article on EssexLive is entitled Google To Move Into Waltham Cross With £788m Data Centre To Support ‘AI Innovation’, where this is said.
The new data centre will go on land at Maxwell’s Farm, next to the A10 Great Cambridge Road and around one mile from the M25 junction 25. Debbie Weinstein, Google vice president and managing director in the UK and Ireland, set out the decision in a blog post on Thursday, January 18 – the fourth day of the World Economic Forum’s Davos 2024 in Switzerland.
This is a Goggle Map of that area, when I searched for Maxwell’s Farm.
Note.
- The red arrow indicates the result of my search, which Google interpreted as A.J. Maxwell.
- The dual-carriageway road running down the East side of the map is the A10 between London and Cambridge.
- The A10 road joins the M25 at Junction 25.
- The arrow to the South-West of the roundabout indicates the new studios; Sunset Waltham Cross, which is being built.
- At the other side of the studio site, there is a label saying New River and this important piece of London’s water infrastructure can be traced to the top of the map.
- The other dual-carriageway road is the B198 or Lieutenant Ellis Way.
- A quick calculation shows that 33 acres is roughly a 365 metre square.
I would suspect that the data centre will lie somewhere between the A10, the B198 and the New River.
This Google Map shows the South-East corner of the site.
Note.
- There appears to be a lane running East-West, that crosses over both the A10 and the New River.
- Theobalds Lane appears to have some housing and possibly a farm.
- The smaller field by the roundabout appears to have some animals using it as grazing.
- The field between the East-West lane and Theobalds Lane appears to have a good crop of cereal.
The East-West lane would appear to be a possible Southern border of the site.
This Google Map shows where the East-West lane goes.
Note.
- The lane leads to Queen Mary’s High School.
- The school also has access from Lieutenant Ellis Way.
- The New River appears to form, the Eastern boundary of the school site.
- There are sports pitches between the New River and the school.
The New River looks to be the Western boundary of the Google site.
This Google Map shows around the red arrow from the Google search that led me to this area.
Note.
- A.J. Maxwell is identified by the red arrow in the Theobalds Enterprise Centre.
- The New River can be seen at the West of the map.
- A hedge runs roughly East-West to the North of the Enterprise Centre.
- North of the hedge are a number of football pitches, which appear to belong to the Affinity Academy at Goffs Churchgate.
The hedge could be the Northern boundary of the Google site.
This Google Map shows the area between the South of the Enterprise Centre and the East-West lane I picked out earlier.
A crude measurement indicates it could be around 33 acres or slightly more.
This picture is used in nearly all the news reports about the Data Centre.
Note.
- Could that be the gentle curve of the New River on the left?
- With the high fence, the New River forms an almost-mediaeval defence against trespassers.
- There looks to be a dual-carriageway road running down the other side of the site, which would be the A10.
- Between the A10 and the site, there appears to be loots of dark areas, which I take to be car parks.
- Are the car-parking spaces in the front of the picture marked for those, who are disabled? There certainly appear to be chargers on some spaces.
I have a few thoughts.
The Relative Locations Of Google’s Data Centre And Sunset Studios?
This Google Map shows the two sites to the West of the A10.
Note.
- St. Mary’s High School is in the North-West corner of the map.
- Cheshunt Football Club is in the North-East corner of the map.
- The dual-carriageway A10 runs North-South on the map.
- I believe that Google’s Waltham Cross Data Centre will be located in the field to the West of the A10, at the top of the map.
- The A10 connects to the M25 at Junction 25, which is in the centre at the bottom of the map.
- In The Location Of Sunset Studios In Broxbourne, Sunset Studios are placed to the North West of the Junction 25 roundabout.
- Just as the A10 forms the Eastern boundary of both sites, the New River forms the Western boundary.
The two sites are close together between the A10 and the New River, separated by the dual-carriageway Lieutenant Ellis Way.
Will Google’s Data Centre Be Storing Data For Sunset Studios?
I’ve never worked in the production of films, but these days with digital electronic cameras, CGI, motion capture and other techniques, producing a film must need huge amounts of data storage.
- So have Sunset Studios outsourced their data storage needs to Google?
- Perhaps too, Sunset Studios found the local authority welcoming and this attitude was recommended to Google.
- Both sites will need local services like electricity, gas, sewage and water.
I suspect that there would be cost savings in construction and operation, if the two sites shared the utilities.
Providing Electricity And Heat For Both Sites
Consider.
- I estimate from information given in the Wikipedia entry for Google Data Centres, that a data centre needs between 10 and 12 MW.
- There is no obvious power source like offshore wind or a nuclear power station nearby.
- There is the 715 MW Rye House gas-fired power station, which is a few miles away.
- In Google Buys Scottish Offshore Wind Power, I talked about how Google had signed a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement to buy 100 MW from the Moray West offshore wind farm.
Google and Sunset Studios would also want an electrical and heat supply that is at least 100 % reliable.
Liverpool University had the same problem on their hundred acre campus in the centre of Liverpool.
- The University decided to build their own 4 MW Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP), which is described in this data sheet.
- It is fired by natural gas.
- On their web site, Liverpool University state that their CHP can be adapted to different fuel blends. I take this includes zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen and carbon-neutral fuels like biomethane.
But given their location in Waltham Cross close to the Lea Valley, CHP units may have a use for their carbon dioxide.
This Google Map shows between Junction 15 of the M25 and Tomworld.
Note.
- Junction 25 of the M25, where it joins the A10 is in the South-West corner of the map.
- The sites of Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios can be picked out with reference to the previous map.
- Tomworld is in the North-East corner of the map.
- So why should Tomworld need a lot of carbon-dioxide?
This Google Map shows Tomworld.
Note.
- This web page indicates what Tomworld do.
- They have 44 acres of glass growing tomatoes, about five miles to the North-East of Google’s Data Centre.
- The map has lots of other greenhouses.
I know of a guy, who has a large greenhouse, that grows tomatoes for the supermarkets.
- He heats the greenhouse with a gas-fired Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP).
- The electricity produced runs his business.
- Any surplus electricity is fed into the grid.
- The carbon dioxide is fed to the plants in the greenhouse, which helps them grow quality tomatoes.
I just wonder, if carbon dioxide from CHP units at Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios could be used by the multitude of greenhouses in the Lea Valley.
Could A Carbon Dioxide Pipeline Be Built Along The M25?
This Google Map shows the Northern section of the M25, South of Waltham Cross.
Note.
- The M25 running East-West across the bottom of the map.
- Junction 25 of the M25 in the South-West corner of the map.
- The A10 running North-South at the West of the map.
- Google’s data centre and Sunset Studio are to the West of the A10.
- The River Lee, which has numerous water courses is at the East of the map.
I wonder, if a carbon dioxide pipeline could be built along the M25 to connect the producers to those who could use it?
- It would not be a dangerous pipeline as carbon dioxide is a fire extinguisher.
- It wouldn’t be a huge pipe.
I think it would be possible.
Google’s Commitment To Being Zero-Carbon
This blog post on the Google web site is entitled Our $1 Billion Investment In A New UK Data Centre, has a section, which has a sub-title of 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy By 2030, where this is a paragraph.
Additionally, we’re also exploring new and innovative ways to use the heat generated by data centres, and this new facility will also have provisions for off-site heat recovery. Off-site heat recovery presents an opportunity for energy conservation that benefits the local community, as it allows us to capture the heat generated by the data centre so that it can be used by nearby homes and businesses. The data centre is also set to deploy an air-based cooling system.
If they are using off-site heat recovery, it would be logical to use waste carbon dioxide from CHPs to provide carbon dioxide for the local horticultural businesses.
Will Google Be Building A Vertical Farm Nearby?
In Schneider Electric: Vertical Farming – The Next Yield In Data Centre Sustainability, I noted that some data centres are paired with vertical farms to increase their sustainability.
Could Google be doing that in Waltham Cross?
- They will have a lot of waste heat.
- They will have a fair bit of carbon dioxide, which could be used to help plants grow.
- The local workforce probably contains a lot of experience of market gardening.
I like the idea of pairing a data centre and a vertical farm.
Public Transport Access
Consider.
- Increasingly, the cost of electric vehicles, medical problems and the UK economic situation are causing people to adopt a car-free lifestyle.
- After my stroke, my eyesight deteriorated such, that I am no longer allowed to drive.
- Others may live in one-car families and it may not be their’s to use every day.
- Or your car may just break down on the way to work.
For these and probably lots of other reasons, any large site employing a lot of employees, must have a valid way of getting there by public transport.
The nearest rail station to Google’s Data Centre and Sunset Studios is Theobalds Grove station.
This Google Map shows the roads between the sites and the station.
Note.
- The Sunset Waltham Cross label in the South West corner.
- Google’s Data Centre will be just off the map to the West of the A10.
- Theobalds Grove station is marked by the TfL roundel in the North-East corner of the map.
- There would appear to be no bus stops on Winston Churchill Way or the A10.
I walked South from the station to Winston Churchill Way, where I took these pictures.
Note.
- At that point, I gave up because of the cold and pollution.
- It was also a Saturday morning about midday.
The route I took is certainly not an alternative route to get to Google’s Data Centre or Sunset Studios.
A Possible Station At Park Plaza North
This article on the BBC is entitled Broxbourne: Two New Stations Planned.
This is the sub-heading.
Two new train stations could be built in Hertfordshire if plans to tighten planning policies are adopted.
This is the first paragraph.
Broxbourne Borough Council said stops at Park Plaza North – between Turkey Street and Theobalds Grove London Overground stations – and Turnford on the London to Bishop’s Stortford route would be subject to a consultation.
Later the BBC say that Park Plaza North station will be South of the A121 Winston Churchill Way near Waltham Cross
This Google Map shows the area South-East of the roundabout, where Winston Churchill Way meets the A10.
Note.
- The green patch of land to the South-East of the roundabout where Winston Churchill Way meets the A10 appears to be ripe for development.
- Looking at the green patch with a higher resolution, the land is little more than high class scrub beloved of newts.
- The London Overground line to Cheshunt runs down the East side of the site.
- To the North, the London Overground crosses Winston Churchill Way to get to Theobalds Grove station.
- To the South, the London Overground crosses the M25 to get to Turkey Street station.
- There is a lane running East-West along the South edge of the site, which crosses the railway in a level crossing.
This picture clipped from Google StreetView shows the level crossing.
This is certainly one, that drivers dread.
This GoogleMap shows the level crossing and a stretch of the London Overground.
Note.
- The level crossing is in the South-East corner of the map.
- There isn’t much space to put a London-bound platform on the East side of the tracks, South of the Park Road circle.
- There is plenty of space to put a Cheshunt-bound platform on the West side of the tracks.
- North of the Park Road circle, there would appear to be space for two platforms.
It will need a lot of ingenuity to provide a safe and efficient solution to the problems of the level crossing and fitting a station in this limited space.
The first thing I’d do, would be to dig an underpass for pedestrians and cyclists to connect the two halves of Park Lane.
Tiny Data Centre Used To Heat Public Swimming Pool
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The heat generated by a washing-machine-sized data centre is being used to heat a Devon public swimming pool
These three paragraphs outline the story.
The computers inside the white box are surrounded by oil to capture the heat – enough to heat the pool to about 30C 60% of the time, saving Exmouth Leisure Centre thousands of pounds.
The data centre is provided to the council-run centre free of charge.
Start-up Deep Green charges clients to use its computing power for artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Note.
I find both of these interesting applications.
Green Hydrogen Powered, Off-Grid Data Center-As-A-Service Is A World First
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Hydrogen Fuel News.
This is the first paragraph.
ECL has announced the world’s first off-grid Datacenter-as-a-Service, fully powered by green hydrogen, with 99.999% uptime at a much lower cost compared to traditional colocation data centers.
This paragraph gives details of an installation.
It runs with zero emissions at very low noise levels. The data center’s modularity combined with having no need to depend on local utilities means that it can be designed and delivered far more rapidly than other companies’ data centers. Instead of typical construction cycles that take between 18 – 24 month, ECL’s data centers take between six and nine months.
The product looks like a promising development.
I think this is the company’s web site.
Norwegian Company To Power Data Centres With Offshore Wind
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-title.
Norwegian energy company Earth Wind & Power (EWP) is set to offtake up to 400MW of excess and pre-grid offshore wind power to supply electricity to data centre infrastructure in Northern Europe.
This sounds like a good idea.
Over the next few years, the UK will be ramping up our production of renewable energy.
Data centres could be an ideal way to make money from our excess energy.
The Anonymous Widower 