

Helsinki server room heats 500 houses - cromulent
http://www.helen.fi/tiedotteet/tiedotteet.aspx?id=248&lang=en

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cromulent
The English translation is not so good. The essence is that they are using the
heat from the underground server rooms to heat 500 homes in Helsinki.

Helsinki already has "town heating" - a network of hot water pipes that take
heat from the power station cooling systems into many houses and buildings,
and even a couple of streets in the city are heated to prevent ice. This
system feeds into that.

Corrections from Finns welcome.

Edit: Some more info - <http://www.helen.fi/energia/konesali.html>

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ilkhd2
BTW, a lot more close Toronto use it's river to cool air in AC units in office
buildings.

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warfangle
Manhattan does something similar - waste steam from power plants is piped
through to customers who use it for hot water, heating, and AC (most likely
via absorption refrigeration:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_absorption_refrigerator> ).

I read once that some buildings use the steam to run backup generators in case
of power failure, but I can't seem to find that source anymore - so take it
with a grain, so to speak.

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pingswept
A more accurate title would be "Helsinki server room may eventually heat
houses."

Perhaps it's a small point, but anyone can plan to heat houses with waste
heat. Actually doing it is what counts.

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Ras_
No it wouldn't, since there already is a functioning heat transfer network and
the server room heat will be lead into it.

District heating has been functional in Helsinki since 1953.

"Helsinki district heating covers more than 93 percent of the heating energy
demand. More than 90 percent of buildings are heated with co-generated
district heat."

[http://www.energy-
enviro.fi/index.php?PAGE=2298&NODE_ID=...](http://www.energy-
enviro.fi/index.php?PAGE=2298&NODE_ID=2298&LANG=1)

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cromulent
Reuters article: [http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-
SP/idU...](http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-
SP/idUSGEE5AS01D20091130?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11617&sp=true)

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eli
As it starts getting colder, I've thought about doing this in our office

