We've all been there — you're standing on the edge of a pool when you dip your toes into the water, and an icy chill shoots through your body. After plunging yourself into the freezing water, all you can think is, "This is how Jack must've felt when Rose wouldn't let him on the door with her after the Titanic sunk."
Luckily, one company has an ingenious solution for warming pools more efficiently — and it also happens to help the environment.
London-based company Deep Green is placing its small data centers under swimming pools in a beautiful, symbiotic relationship. The data center gets the cooling it requires, and the pool is heated at a fraction of the cost.
Deep Green submerges its computers in mineral oil inside a washing machine-sized box. The "digital boiler" is then installed under the pool. The hardware heats the mineral oil, which is then pumped into a heat exchanger to warm the pool.
The process can heat the pool water to 86 degrees Fahrenheit about 60% of the time, which saves thousands of dollars in heating costs.
One of the pools benefiting from a Deep Green "digital boiler" is located in Devon, England. Sean Day, who runs the leisure center, told the BBC that he expected energy bills to go up by about $120,000 this year.
The Verge reports that the data center could cut $24,000 off of the pool's electric bill — and Deep Green covers all of the costs related to the data center, meaning it costs the swim center no extra money while also helping it save.
Energy costs are rising around the globe. Consumers in the U.S. paid 14.3% more for electricity on average in 2022 than they did the previous year.
Swim England reports that over 100 pools are under threat of closure, and it's not just in the UK — pools are closing all across Europe due to the energy crisis they're experiencing.
Not only is Deep Green's innovative solution helping pools in the UK save money, but it's also a creative way to help with the growing problem caused by data centers.
Data centers consume an incredible amount of electricity, creating heat as a byproduct. Keeping data centers cool is a grand undertaking that negatively impacts the environment. One data center can use the same amount of electricity as 50,000 homes.
Developed over five years, Deep Green's solution appears to be working on a small scale.
Pools save money on electricity bills while reducing carbon pollution by not needing to use a gas boiler as often. Meanwhile, small data centers are cooled with no carbon pollution or water usage — a beautiful, symbiotic relationship.
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