The technology boom and rise of the internet has lead to for data centres that house computer servers. These are vital to power the digital economy and keep us logged on. However as you can imagine the consume a vast amount of electricity. In fact some data centres use as much electricity as a small town!! Those of you who know about computers will have noted that not only do the computers need power to work they also need energy to cool them down.
The company Telecity realised it was pumping a lot of hot air into the atmosphere and when designing its new data centre in Paris it coupled with a company to take away its heat. The French national agronomic institute built a greenhouse next to the data centre that will allow scientist to study how plants adapt to global warming. In Amsterdam the waste heat is used to warm an office block and heat the water supply of a hospital.
Telecity estimate that the data centre will save 2500 tonnes of CO2 each year. They will also have a white roof to reflect solar rays and therefore stop the sun heating the building.
So there we have an example of how a company has looked at their waste and come up with a solution to help other businesses. Good stuff! Hopefully Telecity will act as an example to other companies about how to cut their CO2 emissions.
