The Heat of the Byte

The world has a lot of computer servers putting out a lot of data … and a lot of heat. As AI takes hold, we’ll need more and more massive data centers. In some cases, in addition to powering applications, they’re heating homes. Consider the Danish city of Odense. “Since 2020, Meta’s hyperscale data center—spanning 50,000 square meters on an industrial estate on the edge of the city—has been pushing warm air generated by its servers into the district heating network under Odense. That heat is then dispersed through 100,000 households hooked up to the system, with Meta providing enough heat to cover roughly 11,000.” What Happens When Facebook Heats Your Home. (I don’t need Facebook to heat my home. My family and I push our personal devices hard enough to keep us in undershirts all winter…)