Smelly Power

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Smelly Power

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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April 24, 2012 at 1:31 am

#267850

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Smelly Power

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paul.knibbs SSCoach Points: 15320 More actions · Answer 1

What they need to be doing to make a data centre *really* green is to use the waste heat for something, rather than just venting it to atmosphere. 15MW of waste heat would heat a small town! I don't know if anybody is actually doing this as yet, but would be cool if they are. (Or should that be hot if they are? :-P).

jbnv SSC Eights! Points: 973 More actions · Answer 2

Excellent point. Perhaps someone could start by harnessing that heat to make the staff's coffee.

Jay Bienvenu | http://bienv.com | http://twitter.com/jbnv

Steph Locke SSCrazy Points: 2963 More actions · Answer 3

Waste to Energy power is a great technology, and the conception that the process is smelly is inaccurate. Obviously the input tends to be smelly but so long as the stuff is stored correctly before incineration then there is 0 smell.

The heat produced by incinerators is typically used for heating nearby areas, in particular hospitals, who are quite comfortable with incinerators since most hospitals have them for disposing of medical waste.

I'm not sure if the heat off a data centre could be used similarly, however, you could pump the heat into water (like some solar panels) and use the hot(ish) water in the building.

stevemc Right there with Babe Points: 797 More actions · Answer 4

I once worked briefly at the Trojan nuclear power plant in Oregon; no issues with power there. The office was in the shadow if the cooling tower. That was spooky.

http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/trojan_nuclear.html

Revenant SSC-Forever Points: 42467 More actions · Answer 5

paul.knibbs (4/24/2012)
What they need to be doing to make a data centre *really* green is to use the waste heat for something, rather than just venting it to atmosphere. 15MW of waste heat would heat a small town! I don't know if anybody is actually doing this as yet, but would be cool if they are. (Or should that be hot if they are? :-P).

If we are talking about Microsoft, yes they are.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736445 More actions · Answer 6

stevemc (4/24/2012)

I once worked briefly at the Trojan nuclear power plant in Oregon; no issues with power there. The office was in the shadow if the cooling tower. That was spooky.

http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/trojan_nuclear.html%5B/quote%5D

Cool. I worked at Surry and North Anna in Virginia. Cooling towers were far away, but going into the secure area always created a little anxiety for me.

Revenant SSC-Forever Points: 42467 More actions · Answer 7

Steve Jones - SSC Editor (4/24/2012)

stevemc (4/24/2012)
I once worked briefly at the Trojan nuclear power plant in Oregon; no issues with power there. The office was in the shadow if the cooling tower. That was spooky.
http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/trojan_nuclear.html%5B/quote%5D
Cool. I worked at Surry and North Anna in Virginia. Cooling towers were far away, but going into the secure area always created a little anxiety for me.

Hey, why? We all die only once, right? 😉

Michael Valentine Jones SSC Guru Points: 64818 More actions · Answer 8

I would think that venting the waste heat into a cluster of greenhouses would make a lot of sense. Grow expensive flowers or vegetables in places where they would not normally grow, especially during the winter.

Also would be good PR: "Look we're green! See all the greenhouses!"

Revenant SSC-Forever Points: 42467 More actions · Answer 9

Michael Valentine Jones (4/24/2012)
I would think that venting the waste heat into a cluster of greenhouses would make a lot of sense. Grow expensive flowers or vegetables in places where they would not normally grow, especially during the winter.
Also would be good PR: "Look we're green! See all the greenhouses!"

Exactly. I am under an NDA. but if you will, Bing or Google 'Azure Finland'.

And you may look for hints at heating of the houses of the employees in that inhospitable part of Europe.

paul.knibbs SSCoach Points: 15320 More actions · Answer 10

Slightly off topic, but big coal-fired plants use cooling towers too--Drax power station in Yorkshire has something like twelve of the things!

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736445 More actions · Answer 11

In Syracuse when I lived there, the waste heat from a fossil fuel power plant (in the form of steam) was used to heat some university and local buildings.

In a warmer climate, I'm sure it could be used for something like hot water that is in use in various ways.

Matt Miller (4) SSC Guru Points: 124210 More actions · Answer 12

Michael Valentine Jones (4/24/2012)
I would think that venting the waste heat into a cluster of greenhouses would make a lot of sense. Grow expensive flowers or vegetables in places where they would not normally grow, especially during the winter.
Also would be good PR: "Look we're green! See all the greenhouses!"

If you're going that far - be sure to vent the excess CO2 there as well, or use some of the synthetic carbon capture mechanisms (which act like plant-based chlorophyll).

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Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Michael Valentine Jones SSC Guru Points: 64818 More actions · Answer 13

Matt Miller (#4) (4/25/2012)
Michael Valentine Jones (4/24/2012)
I would think that venting the waste heat into a cluster of greenhouses would make a lot of sense. Grow expensive flowers or vegetables in places where they would not normally grow, especially during the winter.
Also would be good PR: "Look we're green! See all the greenhouses!"
If you're going that far - be sure to vent the excess CO2 there as well, or use some of the synthetic carbon capture mechanisms (which act like plant-based chlorophyll).

I don't think most data centers produce CO2 directly, unless they are being powered by a motor generator.

In any case, the growing plants in the greenhouses would be absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, so that would be another plus.

paul.knibbs SSCoach Points: 15320 More actions · Answer 14

Michael Valentine Jones (4/25/2012)
In any case, the growing plants in the greenhouses would be absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere, so that would be another plus.

Only during the day when they have light to photosynthesize, though. When it's dark, plants actually consume oxygen from the atmosphere--nothing like as much as they remove from it during the day, of course, or else we wouldn't have an oxygen-rich atmosphere to start with, but it would certainly be possible to suffocate the plants if you had them in a CO2-heavy atmosphere at night. (And since CO2 is heavier than air it would tend to concentrate at the bottom of the greenhouse around the plants, making this scenario more likely).