https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/0 ... aste-heat/Next to the boiler is a computer tagged with a sticker that reads: “This powerful computer server is transferring the heat from its processing into the water in your cylinder.” A green LED light indicates that the boiler is running, Jordan explains. “The machine receives the data and processes it. Thus we are able to transfer the equivalent of 4.8 kilowatt-hours of hot water, about the daily amount used by an average family.”
When you sign up with Heata, it places a server in your home, where it connects via your Wi-Fi network to similar servers in other homes—all of which process data from companies that pay it for cloud computing services. Each server prevents one ton of carbon dioxide equivalent per year from being emitted and saves homeowners an average of £250 on hot water annually, a considerable discount in a region where 13% of the inhabitants struggle to afford heat. The Heata trial, funded by a grant from Innovate UK, a national government agency, has been active in Surrey County for more than a year. To date, 80 units have been installed, and another 30 are slated to have a boiler to heat by the end of October.
Imagine a much bigger version of this, wherein computer server buildings are erected along the banks of a river in Alaska, northern Canada, or northern Russia. Cold water from the rivers would be diverted into the buildings to cool the servers, and the hot effluent water would be ejected back into the rivers. This would raise the temperature, unfreezing the rivers year round and making them navigable for boats. Soils throughout the river basin would also slowly dry out over several years (ice dams downstream cause water drainage backups), making the region suitable for more plant growth and killing off the huge mosquito swarms that plague the summers.
something new for me. not so familiar with bitcoin miners
