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Today's "So Crazy It Just Might Work!" Idea
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Microsoft paper suggests installing cloud servers in private homes and businesses and using them as furnaces.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. 
I know my home office is the warmest room in the house...
-- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
It's not going to work in anything resembling the near term. To be efficient the heating system must be quite a bit warmer than the target temperature. Second how many people would accept random technicians coming to their house for maintenance and upgrades? Third what happens if there is a leak or equipment is stolen. What about power costs, who pays? How are you going to deal with people tampering with the equipment? I could go on, but in short it's not going to happen anytime soon, if ever.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?" B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell." 
Well you could have it set up in external cabinets like the existing hot water & central heating system's I've seen. Although you'd probably wouldn't do it in certain climatic zones.
I can see where they're coming from for the typical pc's outputs what, air in the 40C-200C range and I've come across offices with running systems that are so hot on a cold day that it's good idea to turn on the AC. 
I don't know about private homes; but condominium style high rises might benefit from something like this. properly provisioned and located a server farm could supplement the heating requirements of a large building (and heat the indoor pool in summer?). It also avoids the privacy/power issue you would have with normal homeowners, as the room could be provisioned for the appropriate access, security and power.
What I do like about the paper is that it demonstrates that we should be radically rethinking how we design data centers (and homes/offices). There are so many opportunities to reclaim waste heat; rather than have to fight against it with air-conditioning. Shayne Quote:There are so many opportunities to reclaim waste heat; rather than have to fight against it with air-conditioning.That's something supermarkets have known all about for many decades; I remember back in the first big energy crisis of the 1970s that the government eventually had to give supermarkets an exemption to their "once-size-fits-all" restrictions on winter heating for commercial locations -- because the stores were often partially or completely warmed by the heat pumped out of all the refrigerators and freezers, and turning it down meant either a corresponding rise in food storage temperatures or expensive changes to the store to vent that heat another way. -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. Rev Dark Wrote:What I do like about the paper is that it demonstrates that we should be radically rethinking how we design data centers (and homes/offices). There are so many opportunities to reclaim waste heat; rather than have to fight against it with air-conditioning.I don't recall which of Spider Robinson's "Callahan's Bar" stories mentioned that every kitchen has a heat creator (oven) near a hear remover (refrigerator) and they aren't connected, but it was one of the early ones... We've needed to rethink this entire concept for decades. -- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I think it actually was in "Night of Power" . O maybe I'm getting mixed up with the "Unlimited Networks" which I am sure were a plot point there.
In regards to kitchens having both heat sources (stoves) and heat sinks (fridges):
I remember reading about a device that, by manipulating sound waves in two specially designed cones, would get very hot on one end and cold on the other. I haven't read anything about it since then. The problem (as I remember it) is that domestic kitchens don't need a constant source of hot and cold, and the temperature differences we need are not proportionate. If you are cooking something you want a few hundred degrees above ambient for a short time period. And the fridge runs it wants a few tens of degrees below ambient constantly. If we are going to get things to fit, we are going to need to find similar heat profiles in time & amount. -Terry ----- "so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today" TF2: Spy
There's also the issue that the fridge removes heat from its interior by moving it out: in terms of space heating, the fridge is a constant low-level source, not a sink of any kind.
That doesn't mean the fridge/oven hookup isn't useful, though. Pushing the waste heat from the fridge into the oven means the oven is warmer than it would be otherwise, and thus doesn't need as much energy to heat to the desired temperature. There's still a net savings in energy.
-- Rob Kelk "Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of the same sovereign, servants of the same law." - Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Plus it is possible to "bank" heat -- passive solar systems do it all the time, and I seem to remember seeing a plan for a system that used a heat pump to transfer energy to what amounted to an insulated box of rocks, from which heat could be extracted later.
-- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak.
Yes that is possible to store and move around heat but it is not free. There are some gains to be made here, but usually they are too minor to be worth the effort.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?" B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Every system has its pros and cons - some of which most people don't even think of. Like that catchpan under the refrigerator that collects all the condensation from the evaporator coils? It relies on heat from the condenser coils to evaporate the collected condensation. Not saying that you should ditch the idea just for that, only that it's one of those little things people don't think of.
Anyhow, I wonder how feasible it would be if all heating and cooling systems in a home could be connected to a central heat-exchanger system. The problem with it would be that it would require a self-isolating system of quick disconnects that would make the process of installing a new appliance (say, a refrigerator) a not-so-difficult matter. Otherwise, it would be a more complex process where after hooking up the threaded coolant connections, you must then fill the exchanger loop for that system with coolant. Pricey. |
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