A tech startup has received a £200 million (about $255 million) investment after developing a unique solution to heat public pools in the United Kingdom.
Deep Green uses excess heat produced by data centers to warm up the waters of local swimming baths, solving two problems in one elegant process.
Public pools in the UK have been closing en masse because of rising energy costs, which is stopping communities from accessing sites that are essential to improved health, fitness, and well-being.
Meanwhile, data centers have been trying to figure out what to do with wasted heat from computer data processing and also how to cool down systems that are getting way too hot.
Deep Green trialed a process at a leisure center in Exmouth, Devon, that saw a small computer data processing center placed underneath a swimming pool.
The heat from the data center helped to stop swimmers feeling the chill, while the cool water prevented machines from overheating.
According to The Guardian, the Exmouth swimming pool saw a 60% reduction in heating bills, and that success has encouraged Octopus Energy to invest in Deep Green's solution.
"If just 1% of the data center demand in the UK operated on our servers, we could deploy them in every public pool in the country," Deep Green's chief executive Mark Bjornsgaard told The Guardian. "The backing from Octopus is the first step."
It's not only leisure centers taking notice, with Bjornsgaard adding other companies are looking at the process to potentially cut energy bills.
"Placing data centers within the fabric of society transforms the waste heat they produce into a valuable resource that benefits communities," Bjornsgaard continued. "The data center sector is rightly facing scrutiny about its growing energy demand and associated carbon emissions. Our data centers are highly energy efficient and support local communities with free heat."
In addition to providing cheaper energy to keep swimming pools open, the solution reduces the need for dirty fuel to power heat sources. Whether it's coal or gas, lower energy demand for heating will help to limit the production of planet-warming pollution.
This is not the only development that has turned to an unusual, free source of heat. In Vancouver, heat from sewage water is being used to keep homes toasty. Meanwhile, Paris is making the most of the Seine river to provide cooling for buildings in the city.
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