Nordic countries use data centers to warm homes

Although data centers are huge power consumers that can have a negative impact on carbon reduction goals, one of their traits—heat generation—can be used as a resource.

In Finland and Sweden, heat generated by data centers is being used to fuel district energy systems that distribute steam or superheated water to individual buildings, campuses, or whole neighborhoods. One Finnish data center last year heated the equivalent of 2,500 homes.

Microsoft is building a cluster of data centers that is expected to supply heating to 40% of Espoo, Finland’s second-largest city. That is the equivalent of 100,000 homes. That project has contributed to the decision to shut a local coal-fired heating plant.

A well-maintained district heating network can be extremely energy efficient, especially if paired with infrastructure that’s already generating a lot of waste heat, according to a Bloomberg report. District steam heating systems have used heat generated by subway systems for many years. Data centers are a 21st century approach to this principle.