Computer Clusters That Heat Houses

[SazanEyes]

Neat article in MIT Technology Review:

They have been used to model climate change, forecast economic trends, and simulate the intricate complexities folding proteins. Now IBM has something new in store for high-performance computers: heating buildings.

Thanks to a novel on-chip water-cooling system developed by the company, the thermal energy from a cluster of computer processors can be efficiently recycled to provide hot water for an office, says Bruno Michel, manager of advanced thermal packaging at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, in Switzerland.

http://beta.technologyreview.com/computing/22917/

My computers already heat my condo, but it would be nice to be able to replace my water heater with a server rack.

 

[natermeister]

I thought about doing the same thing if I ever won the lottery.

 

[flogge]

http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=12840

Just put one of these in your boxen room. transfers through the air unless you do some slick modding but still gets the job done. I did some very rough calculations and determined it averages 250 W of heat removed from the airspace.

 

[Choder]

I had six Core2 boxes running SMP under my desk at work during winter. I was never cold

Now that it's June, I only have two machines running and I have to use a fan on extra hot days.

 

[crawford60]

All those PCs are nice in the winter, keep my place good and toasty. Unfortunately, it gets too hot in the summer.

Although, with a big enough water cooling loop, you might be able to dump excess heat outside of the house during the summer.