An economic analysis of waste heat recovery and utilization in data centers considering environmental benefits

Zhang, Caiqing; Luo, Hongxia; Wang, Zixuan

doi:10.1016/j.spc.2022.02.006

Cited by 31 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The data centre and vertical farm are two separate buildings adjacent to each other. The waste heat energy is transferred from the data centre to the vertical farm through heat exchangers, as described by Zhang et al [87]. There is no air mixing between the data centre and the vertical farm in this system, but there is some heat energy lost through a heat exchanger.…”

Section: Scenario 2-heat Exchange Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Potential to Use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Borland,

McDonnell,

Harty

2023

Energies

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Data centres, though a necessary part of modern society, are being stigmatised for consuming vast amounts of electricity for their operational and cooling needs. Due to Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels to meet the increased energy demand of data centres, the data centres are contributing significantly to Ireland’s total carbon emissions. As much of this energy is expelled from data centres as waste heat energy, the potential for recycling some of this wasted heat energy was explored using environmentally friendly systems from recent publications. The recovered waste heat energy was applied in a vertical farming system, and the benefits of this waste heat to the vertical farm were analysed and quantified in two scenarios. Using conservative estimates, it was predicted that each vertical farm could be between 5–23% the size of the data centre and produce enough food to feed between 14–61 adults their daily calorie needs, and between 13–58 people their daily fresh produce requirements, depending on the scenario applied. For a more accurate prediction, each vertical farm would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, as there is no current research in this area. However, there was not enough data available on Irish data centres to perform these calculations.

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Section: Scenario 2-heat Exchange Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Potential to Use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Borland,

McDonnell,

Harty

2023

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The data centre and vertical farm are two separate buildings adjacent to each other. The waste heat energy is transferred from the data centre to the vertical farm through heat exchangers as described by C. Zhang et al [87]. There is no air mixing between the data centre and the vertical farm in this system, but there is some heat energy lost through a heat exchanger.…”

Section: Scenario 2 -Heat Exchange Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Potential to use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Borland¹,

Harty²,

McDonnell³

2023

Preprint

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Data centres, though a necessary part of modern society, are being stigmatised for consuming vast amounts of electricity for their operational and cooling needs. Due to Ireland’s reliance on fossil fuels to meet the increased energy demand of data centres, the data centres are contributing significantly to Ireland’s total carbon emissions. As much of this energy is expelled from data centres as waste heat energy, the potential for recycling some of this wasted heat energy was explored using environmentally friendly systems from recent publications. The recovered waste heat energy was applied in a vertical farming system, and the benefits of this waste heat to the vertical farm were analysed and quantified in two scenarios. Using conservative estimates, it was predicted that each vertical farm could be between 5-23% the size of the data centre and produce enough food to feed between 14-61 adults their daily calorie needs, and between 13-58 people their daily fresh produce requirements, depending on the scenario applied. For a more accurate prediction, each vertical farm would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. However, there was not enough data available on Irish data centres to perform these calculations.

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“…Additionally, the study assessed the feasibility of introducing a carbon pricing mechanism to address the resulting financial challenges. Among the limited literature addressing the promotion of whole county PV projects across entire counties, Zhang et al (2023) presented a case study involving a county-wide promotion initiative in Heilongjiang Province, China. This study scrutinized the project's advantages by assigning monetary value to its environmental benefits and incorporating these values into the economic evaluation metrics.…”

Section: Research On Chinese Rooftop Distributed Pv Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost–Benefit Analysis of China’s Whole County PV Program: A Case Study of Julu County, Hebei Province

Jiang

2023

JWE

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Solar photovoltaics’ rising efficiency is increasingly considered the key to achieving carbon neutrality targets in various countries. The Chinese government implemented a variety of regulations from both the supply and demand sides to assist in the development of distributed photovoltaics in the second decade of the twenty-first century. The whole county-wide photovoltaic promotion project, announced in 2021, is regarded as one of the most important new energy development projects in China in the coming years. The paper examines the cost and benefits of a pilot whole-county distributed photovoltaics project in Julu County, Hebei Province, from the perspectives of different stakeholders. The analysis shows that as China enters the era of grid parity, the whole county’s distributed photovoltaics programme still exhibits robust economic, social, and environmental performance in locations with abundant solar resources. And different business models have a significant impact on the distribution of interests among stakeholders. The goal of this paper is to offer effective policy recommendations for promoting the development of distributed new energy beyond urban areas.

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An economic analysis of waste heat recovery and utilization in data centers considering environmental benefits

Cited by 31 publications

References 35 publications

Assessment of the Potential to Use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Assessment of the Potential to Use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Assessment of the Potential to use the Expelled Heat Energy from a Typical Data Centre in Ireland for Alternative Farming Methods

Cost–Benefit Analysis of China’s Whole County PV Program: A Case Study of Julu County, Hebei Province

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