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British startup Deep Green has announced it will use “UK-first” “digital boiler” technology to provide free heating for businesses with “consistent heat needs” – including swimming pools, apartment blocks, distilleries, launderettes and bakeries.
Simply put, the technology is a cloud data center submerged in mineral oil that converts excess heat from it servers in hot water.
In the case of the first pilot site, Exmouth Leisure Center in Devon, Deep Green’s contributions will reduce the pool’s gas needs by 62%. CO2 emissions are expected to be reduced by 25.8 tonnes and the company could save around £20,000 a year.
The costs of data centers
The economic downturn continues to threaten businesses that rely on high energy consumption. An estimated 79% of the UK’s more than 1,500 swimming pools are on the brink of closure, thanks to energy costs rising by 150% since 2019, and Deep Green CEO Mark Bjornsgaard knows things need to change.
“Data is critical to modern society and the demand for data centers is growing exponentially,” said Bjornsgaard. “However, this comes at a cost. Current data center infrastructure is inefficient, uses a huge amount of energy and generates a huge amount of waste heat.”
For this, “approximately 96%” of the heat generated by a Deep Green digital boiler is reused.
“Swimming pools are just the beginning, and about 30% of all industrial and commercial heat needs could be supplied by this technology,” added the CEO.
Peter Gilpin, CEO of LED Community Leisure, the operator of Exmouth Leisure Centre, is also convinced of the move. He claims the site is already seeing the benefit of a “dramatic” reduction in energy bills, and believes the technology has the potential to transform the UK leisure industry in the long run.
Outside of Exmouth, Deep Green hopes to open installations in Bristol and Manchester in the coming weeks.
It’s worth noting that while “digital boilers” may be a “UK first” for businesses, others have already brought the technology into their homes. In February 2023, BingoTingo Pro reported (opens in new tab) that green distributed computer network Heata used similar technology to provide free hot water to homes in South East England.
We said it then and we say it now: Businesses can use ‘innovation’ to reduce the cost of living, but it won’t address the root causes, and it won’t completely solve the wider issues at play.
