Harnessing Waste Heat Sustainably 19 Aug 2024

By Alex Soto

Data centres enable everything we do online, from powering the Internet to making digital communication and connection possible. But as technology develops, society has become hungrier for access to data, resulting in data centres craving more power. Data centers consume significant energy and generate excess heat. To address this, the sector is developing new technologies to reduce heat waste and optimise surplus heat. While cooling techniques have been a key focus to lower carbon emissions, there is untapped potential in other areas as well.

It is encouraging to see data centres integrated into community infrastructure, and their synergy put to work to help decarbonise domestic heating in urban settings. A welcomed example is the recent rollout of a waste heat recovery scheme in west London, at Old Oak and Park Royal – OPDC’s new development area. studioNWA is working with clients to help put this initiative into motion across 75 MW of IT and a 100MW of IT development in Park Royal. Heat from a cluster of data centres will be captured and distributed to a network set to provide low carbon heat to 10,000 homes and a hospital: the first of its kind in the UK, setting a blueprint for similar projects in the future.

From the architectural design perspective, a few space planning implications are to be considered when incorporating waste heat recovery systems into data centre design. Plant rooms for pumps and piping need to be provided, without compromising prime space allocated for IT equipment that could affect IT capacity, when integrated within the building footprint in compact sites.

These rooms need to be easily accessible for maintenance and compliant with building regulations and fire safety. Both tap in and off points and the pump rooms need to be on the perimeter of the site to ensure 24/7 access can be given to the end user, without compromising site security. Early engagement with M&E engineers is essential to ensure the design delivers an efficient layout and optimal adjacencies to cooling systems to capture the excess heat at its source.

Harnessing waste heat from data centres offers a promising way to reduce carbon emissions while meeting the energy demands of our digital world. The west London project demonstrates how excess heat can be repurposed to provide low-carbon heating to urban communities. Successful implementation requires thoughtful architectural design, early collaboration with engineers, and careful planning to ensure efficiency and compliance with regulations. As data centres grow, integrating sustainable practices like these will be essential for balancing energy use with environmental responsibility.