Several companies have been experimenting with reusing heat from server farms, turning what would otherwise be a waste product into a cost-saving benefit. Last year The Mac Observer wrote about Q.RAD, a distributed processing computer built into a wall-mounted home heater. The newest entry to this environmental area is Dutch startup Nerdalize. The company wants to reduce your energy bill by heating your home’s water with excess server heat.
Nerdalize Your Home
Here’s the plan: You pay Nerdalize to install a server in your home. It will then heat your home for free, and Nerdalize will sell the server space to other companies to make money. And it’s paying off—literally. In a 2015 pilot test, Nerdalize introduced its first product, a wall heater powered by one server, similar to Qarnot’s Q.RAD. It used this to power five households for a year in a trial test.
The initial product was kind of slow. It took an hour to warm up, and only created enough heat to power a single room. Now, Nerdalize is moving on to its second pilot phase starting in August. The company will install a new server unit in 42 Dutch homes. This time, the server will heat up your water supply, letting you have free hot showers while still reducing your energy bill.
Crunching the Numbers
Nerdalize estimates it will save customers €300 a year (around US$336)—those customers will have paid a one-time fee between €400-500 for installation. It will charge companies 50% less money for its data services. An added benefit is the three tons of carbon dioxide each server will remove from your home’s carbon footprint. To kick start the process, Nerdalize has a crowdfunding campaign that reached its first goal of €250,000, and wants to raise even more.
You can check out the campaign on Symbid.