Cooling Environments/Heat Reuse

Welcome

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.

Project Leadership

Sub-project Leads

Main Sub-project Leads email address: heatreuseleads@ocproject.net

- Jaime Comella (AQ Compute)

- Bharath Ramakrishnan (Microsoft)

Project Leads

- Sean Sivapalan (NVidia)

- John Fernandes (Meta)

- Cosimo Pecchioli (Castrol/BP)

Incubation Committee Representative

- Steve Mills (Meta)

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 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.

Reference Designs

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

Work:

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;

Deliverables:

Reference tools (tools for equipment dimensioning);

Tables with equipment to be employed; tables with parameters;

Drawings;

latest version of the white paper -work in progress-: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PKqoQAz1jXdtvrERQpjBd_UdDFc1aXHN/edit?invite=COWE-9AP#heading=h.gjdgxs

Workstream Leads:

- David Sickinger (NREL)

- Mark Smith (AlfaLaval)

Heat Reuse Economics

2nd Thursday of the month: 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET.

Old name: TCO Analysis. New name: Heat Reuse economics, a cost-benefit analysis (TCO+earnings)

Work:

Define how much does a baseline heat reuse project cost. Boundary: the data center exchange room.

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

Deliverables:

model with the financials of heat reuse:

base case(s) definition / example case /parameters to consider / boundaries

Cost analysis of equipment

White paper with an analysis of the results

Workstream Leads:

- Jack Kolar (Dataquarium)

- Petter Terenius (Uppsala University)

Policies around Heat Reuse

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

Work:

identify barriers, needed actions and highlight sample policies around the globe for heat reuse in data centers

Deliverables:

Whitepaper: Policies to Accelerate Data Center Heat Reuse: Achieving Economic and Climate Change Goals

-an introduction/summary which makes the case for reusing data center waste heat;

-a section which identifies key hurdles or barriers, general actions which governments can take, and 1-2 examples of good policies where they exist; and

-a final section on potential people or organizations to engage who are outside of the OCP with whom we might engage.

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

2-pager for local authorities:

-guidance to help them untap opportunities by using excess heat of data centers planning to develop a project at their location: WIP https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L9qqu7NBHMtEnaSzbXAnpsrkTHyr5Uxt/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118048834156548736709&rtpof=true&sd=true

Workstream Leads:

- David Gardiner (David Gardiner and Associates)

- Otto Van Geet (NREL)

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

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

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 preliminary version (input and comments are welcome)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PKqoQAz1jXdtvrERQpjBd_UdDFc1aXHN/edit?invite=COWE-9AP#heading=h.gjdgxs

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

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

Seizing Data Center Heat Reuse Opportunities. Guidelines for Local Authorities preliminary version (input and comments are welcome until September 13th 2024)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L9qqu7NBHMtEnaSzbXAnpsrkTHyr5Uxt/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=118048834156548736709&rtpof=true&sd=true

Third-party content

GUEST PRESENTATIONS (yyyy mm dd)

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

PAPERS / WHITEPAPERS / TOOLS

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

Get Involved

Heat Reuse Mailing List

OCP DCF Website

OCP Projects Calendar

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, 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET
Policies around Heat Reuse: 1st Tuesday of the month, 8-9 AM PT // 11-12 AM ET // 5-6 PM CET

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 @ http://opencompute.org/projects/projects-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.