Heat Reuse

The OCP Heat Reuse Sub-Project, part of the Cooling Environments Project, treats data center excess heat as an asset rather than a liability, since almost 100% of the energy used in a processor turns into heat. It suggests solutions that make heat reuse projects easier to implement, organized into three workstreams: reference designs for the technical needs of data centers pursuing heat reuse, economics covering costs and returns, and policies affecting the use of excess heat. Additional work includes a global heat reuse projects database and map and a heat reuse readiness self-assessment.

Heat Reuse

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Steering Committee Representative

Steve Mills

Project Leads

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About This Sub-Project

Sub-Project Leads: Jaime Comella (AQ Compute) and Bharath Ramakrishnan (Microsoft) — reach both at [email protected]

Welcome to the OCP Heat Reuse Subproject. Efficient energy usage and sustainability are key global concerns and tenets of the Open Compute Project (OCP). ITE and data center design efficiency is just one factor in minimizing the carbon footprint associated with energy usage of a data center — use of renewable resources and reuse of its excess heat can have a positive impact as well.

Almost 100% of the energy used in a processor turns into heat.

Up until very recently this has been a liability and a challenge: an immense quantity of heat needed to be removed, employing even more energy. With the proper design, data center cooling systems can be converted into a heat source and a heat management opportunity that in turn converts the heat from a liability to an asset.

Areas of Work

After a period of general discussions during our old biweekly calls, in June 2023 we opened workstreams to better organize our focused work along three main topics: reference designs, economics and policies.

More work is being conducted separate from the workstreams:

  • Heat reuse projects’ database + map — living documents unveiling heat reuse projects and their details around the globe. Maps and database can be found under the Outcomes section in our wiki page.
  • Heat reuse readiness assessment — a self-assessment built as a checklist using a spreadsheet to analyze the situation of a data center to realize a heat reuse project, showing optimum parameters to consider. An advanced beta version is available under the Outcomes section in our wiki page.
  • Comparative analysis — a comparative analysis of the impacts of heat reuse on data centers with different characteristics and in different locations: only in conceptual stage, a first draft will be shared during 2024.

Other workstreams will see the light, but as for the rest, we will need support from the community. Is there any topic you believe we need a workstream for? Are you ready to lead it? Please join us and let’s discuss.

Workstream Leads

Workstream Leads
Reference Designs David Sickinger (NREL), Gabriel Lazar Garrido (Submer)
Economics Jack Kolar (Dataquarium), Gemma Reeves (Alfa Laval)
Policies David Gardiner (David Gardiner and Associates), Petter Terenius (Uppsala University)

Scope

The OCP Heat Reuse Subproject explores these challenges and opportunities. Its goal is to suggest solutions to allow easier implementations of technologies aimed at harnessing the heat and turning it into profit instead of a cost. During our journey we will study the field of the policies facilitating — or not — the usage of data centers’ excess heat around the globe; we will create guidance on designs leading to an easier implementation of heat reuse projects considering the needs of tomorrow; and we will evaluate the profitability and the impacts of such an endeavor when applied to data centers.

Focused work is organized along three main workstreams:

Reference Designs — guidance around the technical needs of a data center willing to materialize a heat reuse project — the field this subproject was mainly created for
Economics — answering the questions that come next: how much will all this cost, and how much can I save or even earn with this?
Policies — the least technical topic but essential to understand the regulatory environment, crucial for the intersectoral coupling needed to materialize these kinds of projects

Resources

Welcome to the OCP Heat Reuse Sub-Project Wiki. Efficient energy usage and sustainability are key global concerns and tenets of the Open Compute Project (OCP). ITE and data center design efficiency is just one factor in minimizing the carbon footprint associated with energy usage of a data center – use of renewable resources and reuse of its excess heat can have a positive impact as well.

Almost 100% of the energy used in a processor turns into heat.

Up until very recently this has been a liability and a challenge: an immense quantity of heat needed to be removed employing even more energy for it. With the proper design, data center cooling systems can be converted into a heat source and a heat management opportunity that in turn converts the heat from a liability to an asset.

The OCP Heat Reuse Subproject explores these challenges and opportunities. Its goal is to suggest solutions to allow easier implementations of technologies aimed at harnessing the heat and turn it into profit instead of a cost. During our journey we will study the field of the policies facilitating -or not- the usage of data centers’ excess heat around the globe; we will create guidance on designs leading to an easier implementation of heat reuse projects considering the needs of tomorrow and we will evaluate the profitability and the impacts of such an endeavor when applied to data centers.

This Project is open to the public and we welcome all those who would like to be involved. Disclaimer: Please do not submit any confidential information to the Project Community. All presentation materials, proposals, meeting minutes and/or supporting documents are published by OCP and are open to the public in accordance to OCP’s Bylaws and IP Policy. This can be found on the OCP OCP Policies page. If you have any questions please contact OCP.

Subproject structure

MAIN SUBPROJECT CALL: Heat Reuse

3rd Tuesday of the month: 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET

Guest presentations Discussion and presentation of the workstreams’ results and future outcomes

WORKSTREAMS / AREAS OF WORK:

After a period of general discussions during our old biweekly calls, during June 2023 we decided to open workstreams to better organized our focused work along three main topics: designs, economics and policies. The first one is probably the field for which this subproject was mainly created for: to create guidance around the technical needs of a data center willing to materialize a heat reuse project. The second topic is meant to answer the first question that comes next: how much will all this cost? and how much can I save or even earn with this? Finally, the third topic, even being the less technical of all, remains essential to understand the regulatory environment, crucial for an intersectoral coupling, which is needed to materialize this kind of projects.

More work is being conducted separate from the workstreams:

  • heat reuse projects’ data base + map: living documents unveiling heat reuse projects and their details around the globe. Maps and data base can be found under the Outcomes section further below.
  • heat reuse readiness assessment: self-assessment built as a checklist using a spreadsheet to analyze the situation of a data center to realize a heat reuse project, showing optimum parameters to consider. Advanced beta version that you can find under the Outcomes section further below.
  • a comparative analysis of the impacts of heat reuse on data centers with different characteristics and in different locations: only in conceptual stage, a first draft will be shared during 2025.

Other workstreams will see the light, but as for the rest, we will need support from the community. Is there any topic you believe we need a workstream for? Are you ready to lead it? Please join us and let’s discuss.

Reference Designs

1st Thursday of the month: 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET.

Scope:
  • How does a “heat recovery room” look like?
  • Definition of spacing, elements, basic parameters;
  • Influence of size
  • In a second stage, define different application scenarios (district heating, greenhouse, swimming pool…) as variables of the base design;
Outcomes:
  • Reference Designs for Data Center Heat Reuse:

https://www.opencompute.org/documents/2025-03-18-ocp-heatreuse-wp-referencedesigns-v0-1-pdf

Work in progress:
  • Impacts of 1 MW of heat reuse

Heat Reuse Economics

2nd Thursday of the month: 7-8 AM PT // 10-11 AM ET // 4-5 PM CET.

Scope:
  • Define how much does a baseline heat reuse project cost.
  • Define variables and parameters of influence,
  • Potential earnings
  • In a second stage, define different application scenarios (district heating, greenhouse, swimming pool…) as variables of the base design
Outcomes/WIP:
  • Heat Reuse Economics tool:
    • base case(s) definition / example case /parameters to consider / boundaries
    • Cost analysis of equipment
    • White paper with an analysis of the results

Heat Reuse Outreach / Industry Liaison / Policies

1st Tuesday of each month: 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET.

Scope:
  • identify barriers, needed actions and highlight sample policies around the globe for heat reuse in data centers
  • build bridges with external stakeholders
Outcomes:
Work in progress:
  • Policies Data Base: Heat Reuse Policies Database – Hojas de cálculo de Google
  • Heat Exchange Platform, together with EUDCA, Euro Heat and Power and NZIH

Guidance path

Outcomes

HEAT REUSE 101 ARTICLE published version

https://www.opencompute.org/documents/20230623-data-centers-heatreuse-101-3-2-docx-pdf


HEAT REUSE PROJECTS DATA BASE living document (please comment and share data)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gRrnOUJ5aFezjIpCKaRWPueONUJ04AGcIfxC1g1tOOc/edit?usp=sharing


HEAT REUSE PROJECTS MAP (the map is “fed” with the data base above)

version1 https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&hl=en&mid=1bTp4Ugy7FGwfPadNlmfZpYwGY5Z5B7o&ll=28.87172622901383%2C-40.21607810348212&z=3

version2 (WIP) https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Kg1uzBkziqOnifc07PIT7QmSRxkVZq0&ll=51.826252107707354%2C2.2928116848082354&z=5


POLICIES TO ACCELERATE DATA CENTER HEAT REUSE: ACHIEVING ECONOMIC AND CLIMATE CHANGE GOALS published version

https://www.opencompute.org/documents/2024-02-22-ocp-heatreuse-wp-policies-vfinal-docx-2-pdf


REFERENCE DESIGNS FOR DATA CENTER HEAT REUSE published version

https://www.opencompute.org/documents/2025-03-18-ocp-heatreuse-wp-referencedesigns-v0-1-pdf


HEAT REUSE READINESS ASSESSMENT preliminary version (input and comments are welcome)

White paper (WIP): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x3zJ_FWjt7k_yV7_j26Vc3jDcFiEZbmU/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112799013903432962737&rtpof=true&sd=true

Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1LXm3NJJz8I55qtKHD9c3BSNOexWP2eqe/edit?gid=496217448#gid=496217448


SEIZING DATA CENTER HEAT REUSE OPPORTUNITIES. GUIDELINES FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES published version

https://www.opencompute.org/documents/2024-09-ocp-hr-wp-2-pager-local-authorities-docx-1-pdf

2-pager version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wHvyOBm9YUDtHjjZ7Twp4AZCe-RhAqQW/view?usp=sharing


HEAT REUSE ECONOMICS TOOL preliminary version

https://github.com/opencomputeproject/OCP-CE-HR-Economics-Tool

White paper (work in progress): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wn5XZeCfSrP6aqQMRjv3IQPkS1A-xVzj/edit?usp=share_link&ouid=112799013903432962737&rtpof=true&sd=true


HEAT REUSE POLICIES DATA BASE living document (please comment and share data)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Az2Pz14eAGhre68BWmrpegg1PJ27decO0HRClKejJE8/edit?gid=0#gid=0


REFERENCE DESIGNS FOR DATA CENTER HEAT REUSE FOR FRESH WATER PRODUCTION AND FACILITY WATER CONSERVATION WIP (please leave comments)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mAr7FUp9IAEU8mFf_oW7Hf14ZjB0Kg10/edit?tab=t.0

Third-party content

2021 10 05 Cloud & Heat – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TLUX1hSPj80qSw-4hZR6Dxm1r8ixuHfK/view?usp=sharing

2021 11 23 Green Mountain – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eTAkymFu6h2DGAT92Rlz_M8ECTpQLZ0Y/view?usp=sharing

2021 12 02 LUMI – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MPJQPl9Xz79R5EgN2X3DWUQTBrJO5PZo/view?usp=sharing

2021 12 14 NREL – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W6hG85K4Oc6wiIk-MxPiFbGH9Q5tVp2N/view?usp=sharing

2022 01 11 Vattenfall – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UTaO-42rAYpMBWFIHcxKLCyfHIKKuGRT/view?usp=sharing

2022 01 25 Carrier – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jQkdSvOtTphPQmzMhMk4IhB_bz6V0JBn/view?usp=sharing

2022 03 08 Telehouse – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aisd3IeU79h__trNnpyJS5A9Ac6TN2sU/view?usp=sharing

2022 04 19 Blockheating – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D4T6v8YXHSDAI4TX_ye_2DQHmzDfvuzL/view?usp=sharing

2022 05 03 Danfoss – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CQe4nE79F0qCyf2ysbn633uy9Z6UdCtL/view?usp=sharing

2022 05 31 Stanford – https://drive.google.com/file/d/10vktrFh8hY7JAuzhc045Htx1kSkJosFg/view?usp=sharing

2022 07 26 Qarnot – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F9vgCaqMT59rrE0L7dm9UnHdAKU5TQ2H/view?usp=sharing

2022 08 09 Intel – https://drive.google.com/file/d/17DL6b2NgrMGCJfLqSSlQj3lzsJSoTVri/view?usp=sharing

2022 09 06 Arcadis + Tomorrow Water – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L29i71Mh2JWu-uxW4h0VEZUWKktCjX7j/view?usp=sharing

2022 11 01 Quantum Loophole – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrcaEGDKijU

2022 11 15 M&M Carnot – https://drive.google.com/file/d/16qeAJ_iZIo885M1RjSNqjTk-yF-7Zu7X/view?usp=sharing

2023 01 24 Sabey – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z_BgfxGrS1Ty9As4ntbrKpg6pr9Q2JdM/view?usp=share_link

2023 03 31 Data Center Dutch Association – https://drive.google.com/file/d/15jQBP0C6Ma-LuMEpiXs5AvjXkSS1yA9S/view?usp=share_link

2023 04 04 Bytes2Heat, University of Stuttgart, DENEFF, IWN – https://drive.google.com/file/d/10J9MoyqlKakgMNzyEtRfvaFs67DheSfM/view?usp=share_link

2023 05 02 2CRSi Heat Reuse – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QQeZit_gpsJy3Bpa1OBWuUY5av8JruJA/view?usp=share_link

2023 05 16 QScale Canada – https://drive.google.com/file/d/10s_9k-P82SRxd3vn-czECIyhUInE38PL/view?usp=sharing

2023 07 11 DeepGreen – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jx8lGXfOE_Oh634NMYPVJ3sE84wcQnb8/view?usp=drive_link

2024 01 16 Microsoft – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UXpsSDuVSX36_kyjmJZYshXOVapbGXo9/view?usp=sharing

2024 07 16 Advanced Liquid Cooling Technologies – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zeqAmAoN5dfXrSYjAJLTz6_yomz-u2KF/view?usp=share_link

2024 07 16 Luminescent Power – https://drive.google.com/file/d/19LJXe1b71Drh8iwQ_dvZ9dwi6Cz6Da84/view?usp=sharing

2024 09 17 Intel + Submer – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NUjjPFZeXQz2otk6ILESNHjyB2vd7BRL/view?usp=drivesdk

2024 12 17 Equinix – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rxRpK67Ml4hiLzWYj963YkcV98FfnJMe/view?usp=sharing

2025 05 20 ARPA-E – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k6rIIy8STzyF-t2W36nl-VrRxND2rPla/view?usp=sharing

2025 05 20 Uravu – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZWst5quu5ri0v62hVLtqhLEA_uRgU3U/view?usp=sharing

2025 11 18 TESS Energy – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U5O76IlHlyhHSCofN5ElKtphjhuAXuVy/view?usp=sharing

Third-party PAPERS / WHITEPAPERS / TOOLS / OTHERS

Template letter suggesting to builders to make new data centers heat reuse-ready

Author: Steven Schon https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kHi7PhpdtsTEWnS6HVLpHqJmkOgmMnlS/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112799013903432962737&rtpof=true&sd=true

Template letter suggesting to authorities to make new data centers heat reuse-

Author: Steven Schon https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vzPNo1QR2jYK2sP8_wPc_kLbQqBN0Fxj/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112799013903432962737&rtpof=true&sd=true


A material social view on data center waste heat: Novel uses and metrics

Authors: Petter Terenius; Peter Garraghan; Richard Harper https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1008583/full


Please download the invites from here: https://ocp-all.groups.io/login?r=https%3A%2F%2Focp-all.groups.io%2Fg%2FOCP-CE-Heat-Reuse%2Fcalendar


Call-in info and source of truth @ Heat Reuse calendar
If there is ever a conflict between calendar invites, the OCP Project Calendar info on the website prevails. This call is open to the public.


Please join the meetings from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://opencompute-org.zoom.us/j/87427111429?pwd=Mkc5QVFNSWF4SE00enlYdnhvRElxdz09#success (same link for all meetings!)


If there is a cancellation, we will try our best to cancel >24hrs before the meeting by the calendars above.

Recordings from Past Calls

2024

2022

  • Jun 14, 2022 – No recording

Regular Project Calls

This subproject currently meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month, 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET

The different workstreams meet monthly:

  • Reference Designs: 1st Thursday of the month, 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET
  • Economics: 2nd Thursday of the month, 7-8 AM PT // 10-11 AM ET // 4-5 PM CET
  • Policies around Heat Reuse: 1st Tuesday of the month, 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET

Here are all the calls displayed in a Google Calendar, extracted regularly from https://ocp-all.groups.io/g/OCP-CE-Heat-Reuse/calendar

All the calls are always in this Zoom room: https://opencompute-org.zoom.us/j/87427111429?pwd=Mkc5QVFNSWF4SE00enlYdnhvRElxdz09#success

Check here what are the calls going to be about: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XJSZyONA3FZtDtCHIL85R6H3w9-jJvDVlfu3aRYKAJw/edit?usp=sharing

MoMs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k5dm4J-856ewVPZc4tmnB19vktcxVZejudRVg4JsBag/edit?usp=sharing

Call Calendar

Always 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET:

1st Tuesday of the month: HR Policies call 1st Thursday of the month: HR Reference Designs call 2nd Thursday of the month: HR Economics call 3rd Tuesday of the month: General HR call

  • 1st Tuesday of the month: HR Policies call
  • 1st Thursday of the month: HR Reference Designs call
  • 2nd Thursday of the month: HR Economics call
  • 3rd Tuesday of the month: General HR call

All the calls are always in this Zoom room.

Check here what are the calls going to be about here.

These meetings are recorded via audio and video. By participating you consent that the recordings may be made publicly available. Any presentation materials, proposals and meeting minutes are published on the respective project’s wiki page and are open to the public in accordance to OCP’s Bylaws and IP Policy. This can be found at http://www.opencompute.org/about/ocp-policies/. If you have any questions please contact OCP.

Heat Reuse calendar

Related Details

Contributions

All project contributions

Sub-Projects

Economics

Economics is a Workstream under the Heat Reuse Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Heat Reuse Sub-Project explores solutions that make it easier to harness data center heat and turn it from a cost into an asset, organized along three topics: reference designs, economics, and policies. This workstream focuses on the economics of heat reuse. Details about the workstream’s mission and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Policies

Policies is a Workstream under the Heat Reuse Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Heat Reuse Sub-Project explores solutions that make it easier to harness data center heat and turn it from a cost into an asset, organized along three topics: reference designs, economics, and policies. This workstream focuses on policies affecting heat reuse. Details about the workstream’s mission and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.

Reference Designs

Reference Designs is a Workstream under the Heat Reuse Sub-Project of the OCP Cooling Environments Project. The Heat Reuse Sub-Project explores solutions that make it easier to harness data center heat and turn it from a cost into an asset, organized along three topics: reference designs, economics, and policies. This workstream focuses on reference designs for heat reuse. Details about the workstream’s mission and ways to get involved will be added in the near future.