Skip to main content

One of the world's most powerful supercomputers could one day heat your home — UK researchers plan to use abandoned coal mines to bring warmth to millions of households

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support

UK researchers are testing a groundbreaking system to repurpose waste heat from a supercomputing facility, potentially providing warmth to millions of homes. 

The system, a first in the UK, aims to store excess heat generated by the University of Edinburgh's Advanced Computing Facility (ACF) in disused mine workings. The ACF, housing the national supercomputer, currently emits up to 70 GWh of waste heat annually, a figure expected to increase to 272 GWh with the installation of the government's forthcoming Exascale supercomputer.

The £2.6 million feasibility study will investigate how to harness the water in old mine workings to heat homes. The cooling process for the supercomputers will be adapted to transfer heat into the mine water, which will then be distributed to households via heat pump technology.

Heating up to 7 million homes

If successful, this study could provide a global blueprint for repurposing abandoned coal, shale, and mineral mine networks into underground heat storage systems. With a quarter of UK homes built over former mines, up to seven million households could benefit from this approach. 

The Edinburgh Geobattery project is being led by geothermal company TownRock Energy, in collaboration with industry and academic partners from Scotland, the US, and Ireland. The University of Edinburgh, the project's lead research partner, is contributing £500k in funding towards its net zero goals. The project has also received a £1 million grant from Scottish Enterprise and a $1 million grant from the US Department of Energy.

Lead academic on the project, Professor Christopher McDermott, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, said: "This project opens up the potential for extracting heat stored in mine water more broadly. Most disused coalmines are flooded with water, making them ideal heat sources for heat pumps. With more than 800,000 households in Scotland in fuel poverty, bringing energy costs down in a sustainable way is critical, and using waste heat could be a game-changer."

More from TechRadar Pro



via Hosting & Support
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Web Hosting
Remote IT Support
Sites & Socials
Computing Handbook - $9.95

Popular posts from this blog

Microsoft, Google, and Meta have borrowed EV tech for the next big thing in data centers: 1MW watercooled racks

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Liquid cooling isn't optional anymore, it's the only way to survive AI's thermal onslaught The jump to 400VDC borrows heavily from electric vehicle supply chains and design logic Google’s TPU supercomputers now run at gigawatt scale with 99.999% uptime As demand for artificial intelligence workloads intensifies, the physical infrastructure of data centers is undergoing rapid and radical transformation. The likes of Google, Microsoft, and Meta are now drawing on technologies initially developed for electric vehicles (EVs), particularly 400VDC systems, to address the dual challenges of high-density power delivery and thermal management. The emerging vision is of data center racks capable of delivering up to 1 megawatt of power, paired with liquid cooling systems engineered to manage the resulting heat. Borrowing EV technology for data center evolution The shift to 400VDC power distribution marks a decisive break from legacy sy...
Post a Comment
Read more

When might Captain America: Brave New World be available to stream on Disney Plus?

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Captain America: Brave New World has landed in theaters worldwide and I bet you're already wondering when it might debut on Disney Plus . Indeed, Marvel's latest movie has just taken flight in cinemas as of today (February 14), but, if you're not planning to watch it on the biggest screen possible, you'll want to know when it could come to Disney's primary streaming service. Right now, I can't tell you when it'll be released on one of the world's best streaming services . However, I can use some of its predecessors' Disney Plus launch dates to predict its arrival. Before you continue scrolling, though, read my Captain America: Brave New World review to see if it's worth watching, plus my Captain America: Brave New World hub and Captain America 4 cast and character guide for details on its cast, story, trailers, and more. When do we think Captain America 4 will debut on Disney Plus? You won...
Post a Comment
Read more