Data centre makes a splash

Deep Green, a British start-up, has launched a UK-first technology that supplies free heat to local businesses and public swimming pools, reducing their energy bills and cutting their reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuel boilers.

Deep Green’s ‘digital boiler’ technology is a cloud data center that efficiently transforms the heat from its servers into useful hot water for local businesses. It is installed on-site at swimming pools or businesses with consistent heat needs, such as bakeries, distilleries, laundrettes and blocks of flats.

Exmouth Leisure Centre in Devon is the first site in the country to benefit from heat-recapture by cloud data centers. The surplus heat donated to the leisure centre by Deep Green’s unit will reduce the pool’s gas requirements by 62%, saving them over £20,000 a year and reduce their carbon emissions by 25.8 tonnes.

There are over 1,500 pools in England alone that could all benefit. Energy costs for leisure facilities have increased 150% since 2019 and an estimated 79% face closure.

Using the latest ‘immersion cooling’ technology, Deep Green captures heat from the operating data center servers, transferring it into the site’s existing hot water system, for free. Around 96% of the heat generated by a Deep Green ‘digital boiler’ is re-cycled.

The installation in Exmouth Leisure Centre contains 12 servers of the highest grade computer equipment and is able to support a number of computing services such as cloud services, artificial intelligence, machine learning and video rendering.

The installation in Exmouth will soon be followed by further installations in Bristol and Manchester in the coming weeks. Beyond pools, 30% of industrial and commercial heat needs could be provided by this technology.

Mark Bjornsgaard, CEO of Deep Green, said: "Data is critical to modern society and demand for data centers is growing exponentially. However, this comes at a cost. Current data center infrastructure is inefficient, using a huge amount of energy and generating a vast amount of waste heat. Yet, at the same time, there are many businesses that need heat and face increasing energy bills.

“By moving data centers from industrial warehouses into the hearts of communities, our ‘digital boilers’ put waste heat to good use, saving local businesses thousands of pounds on energy bills and reducing their carbon footprint. Pools are just the start and around 30% of all industrial and commercial heat needs could be provided by this technology.

“Organisations that are serious about supporting society and reducing their carbon emissions should not forget the massive impact of their computing needs. Deep Green now provides an answer.”

Jane Nickerson, CEO of Swim England, commented: "At a time when so many swimming pools are struggling with massively increased energy bills, it’s great to see pools embracing innovative solutions like this which have the potential to support facilities to operate more sustainably, both environmentally and economically.”

Peter Gilpin, CEO of LED Community Leisure (operator of Exmouth Leisure Centre), commented: "Deep Green’s innovative technology will dramatically reduce our energy bills and carbon footprint, meaning we will continue to be a key asset for the local community. We are already seeing the benefit. I’m certain this will transform leisure centres up and down the country for the better."


Preview of new sustainability dashboard on the HPE GreenLake platform provides visibility, monitoring, and management of IT energy consumption and carbon footprint.
Award given for the successful delivery of a new cooling system at University College Dublin, one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities.
The State of Data Infrastructure Sustainability report shows data center decarbonization represents a top priority, though organizations are struggling to make progress.
What is said to be he world’s most efficient reverse osmosis (RO) technology, the SAM50 RO system, is now available to data centres. Manufactured by Te-Tech Process Solutions, the SAM50 delivers significant advantages over competing RO technologies.
Global study finds 42% of business respondents that can claim to be powered by “100% renewable energy” using mainstream emission reporting standards have not signed any electricity contracts that can be considered carbon-free using an alternative metric.
According to a recent analysis by Future Market Insights (FMI), the demand in the global data center substation market is expected to increase at a healthy 6.2% CAGR over the forecast period, with the market valuation reaching US$ 9.9 Billion in 2022 and US$ 18.2 Billion in 2032.
Vertiv joins leading data centre partners in UK-first curriculum at University Technical College.
Advancements in UPS and batteries enable interaction with smart electric grid, contributing to pursuit of more efficient and sustainable data centres.