Context: This post is in a thread where an IBM’er had suggested using cogeneration techniques to make productive use of waste heat in data server farms.

I think you’re referring to co-generation? It’s an interesting approach that’s been successful in commercial buildings that have large gas powered hot water heaters for example. The excess heat energy from the boiler is harnessed to drive electric generators.

Capturing the heat from a boiler seems physically manageable… I wonder how the heat from multiple server banks could be channelled.

The world of passive solar building designs might offer some solutions to this challenge. Some such buildings use ingenious air circulation systems that are driven primarily by the tendency of hot air to rise. Perhaps such an approach would be effective in a large server farm.

To take it a step further, I wonder if it would make sense to lower the ambient temperature of the server farm? I’ve been imagining large scale subterranean server farms that are superinsulated at ground level, with a highly engineered heat exchange and ventilation system above ground.

[tags]IBM, Innovation Jam, Cogeneration[/tags]