英国政府表示，将投入9000万英镑（约合1.19亿美元）用于建设和改进热力网络，这些网络将数据中心或工厂产生的多余热能重新导向，用于供暖住宅或其他用途。根据能源安全与净零部（DESNZ）的数据，作为该计划的一部分，超过75万户家庭将获得更廉价的供暖，其中包括一项“超大型热力项目”，计划通过泰晤士河底的一条隧道输送热水。后一项目获得4100万英镑（约合5400万美元）资金支持，该部门声称仅此项目就将为伦敦65万户家庭提供“清洁热能”。此举旨在减少首都对天然气的依赖——类似计划在哥本哈根、阿姆斯特丹、维也纳和柏林等城市已运行数十年。《The Register》曾于2023年报道过一个项目，计划将西伦敦1万户新建住宅与附近的服务器农场连接，利用其废热供暖。考虑到如今英国任何项目的进展速度堪比冰川，首要问题必然是：这何时才能实现？最近完工的泰晤士河“超级下水道”项目耗时9年、耗资约50亿英镑（约合66亿美元），这让《The Register》不禁怀疑，热力项目的隧道是否真的会被挖掘，最终价格标签又将是多少。在隧道管道尚未建成的情况下，政府表示热水将初期通过电动驳船，每天沿泰晤士河从贝克斯利附近的一座废物处理厂运输25公里（15英里），这个略显荒诞的想法不可避免地招致了社交媒体上那些自诩高雅的评论员的嘲讽。DESNZ的一位发言人告诉我们，这4100万英镑资金仅用于项目的驳船部分，预计2028年开始运营，而隧道部分希望在2030年代投入使用。目前尚无关于该部分项目成本的信息。
The UK government says it is pumping £90 million ($119 million) into building and improving heat networks that redirect excess heat energy generated by a datacenter or factory and use it to warm homes or for other purposes. According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), more than 750,000 homes will get cheaper heating as part of the scheme, which includes plans for a “mega heat project” that involves distributing hot water via a tunnel under the River Thames. The latter initiative is being backed by £41 million ($54 million) in funding and the department claims it will supply 650,000 London homes alone with "clean heat." This is designed to make the capital less reliant on gas - similar schemes have operated for decades in cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Berlin. The reported on a project back in 2023 that planned to connect 10,000 new homes in west London with nearby server farms to use their waste energy for heating. Given the glacial pace of progress on any UK project these days, the first question must be when this is likely to happen. The recently completed Thames “super sewer” project took 9 years to finish and cost about £5 billion ($6.6bn), leading The Reg to wonder whether tunnels for the heat project will ever actually be dug, and what the final price tag will be. In the absence of pipes in tunnels, the government says the hot water will initially be transported 25 kilometers (15 miles) along the Thames each day by electric barges from a waste plant near Bexley, a faintly ridiculous idea that has prompted inevitable outbursts of scorn from the usual highbrow commenters on social media. A spokesperson for DESNZ told us the £41 million funding is just for the barge part of the project, which is expected to start operating from 2028, while it hopes the tunnels will be operational in the 2030s. There is currently no information on how much that potion of the project will cost. There is also the question of whether using the waste heat from datacenters is really that efficient. It was previously noted by the Uptime Institute that the temperature is typically not high enough for applications including domestic heating, so a heat pump is required, which uses more energy. A 2024 report released by trade association TechUK claimed that while the latest fifth generation of heat network designs can operate with the lower temperature output from a computer shed, most operating in the UK are third-gen systems, which have lower energy efficiency and higher carbon intensity. Despite these doubts, a survey finds that about 60 percent of British people think planning permission for datacenters should be dependent on them supplying their excess heat to local homes and businesses, while 62 percent said they would be more supportive of a project in their area if it did commit to this. The polling was conducted by EnergiRaven, a firm advising on energy efficiency, which calls for all new server farms above 1 MW in capacity to include heat sharing infrastructure. As bit barn development continues to draw controversy, sharing waste heat could give operators another way to demonstrate their value to local communities, helping to build greater public support for new facilities, the firm claims. Alan Howard of tech analyst group Omdia commented: "District heating is certainly a win for any community, and for datacenters it may shine a positive light as some communities are hesitant to embrace them. What’s known so far… doesn’t reveal if the focus is on exploiting existing datacenters, which would [be] its own can of worms, or encouraging and supporting new datacenters to support the heating proposal." Howard added: "Of course, anything that might lighten the dependence on gas dependence is a win as well. It’s too early to call it a project, rather at this stage it is a concept. However, the government commitment is impressive and important to make such sweeping changes and upgrades to what sounds to be an aging and perhaps inefficient existing system." Omdia's Howard tells The Reg: "Obviously, of the many risk characteristics for such and undertaking there are a few that stand out: As a government led project the actual progress and timeline could be messy and long. The engineering for such a significant effort (“transporting hot water 25 km each day by electric barges “, not to mention the tunnels under the Thames) is certain to find a litany of challenges to overcome- While the funding sounds significant, real world experience in construction of seemingly exotic projects could easily balloon many time over." Other heat networks that can expect multi-million-pound investment from the DESNZ include an extension to an existing system in Solihull in England’s midlands, a project at Marble Arch in London serving offices, homes, hotels and businesses around Oxford Street, and another in London at Bexley and Greenwich that may serve up to 100,000 homes when fully built. ®
此外，还有一个问题，即利用数据中心的废热是否真的那么高效。Uptime Institute 此前曾指出，其温度通常不足以满足包括家庭供暖在内的应用需求，因此需要热泵，而这会消耗更多能源。行业协会 TechUK 发布的 2024 年报告称，尽管最新的第五代热网设计可以利用计算机机房的低温输出，但英国目前运行的大多是第三代系统，能效较低，碳强度较高。尽管存在这些疑虑，一项调查发现，约 60% 的英国人认为，数据中心的规划许可应取决于其是否向当地家庭和企业供应多余热能，而 62% 的人表示，如果项目承诺这样做，他们会更支持其在当地落地。该民调由能源效率咨询公司 EnergiRaven 进行，该公司呼吁所有容量超过 1 兆瓦的新建服务器农场都应包含热能共享基础设施。随着“比特谷仓”（数据中心的俗称）的建设持续引发争议，共享废热能让运营商有另一种方式向当地社区展示其价值，有助于为新设施赢得更多公众支持，该公司声称。科技分析机构 Omdia 的 Alan Howard 评论道：“区域供暖无疑对任何社区都是双赢，对数据中心而言，也可能带来正面光环，因为一些社区对接纳数据中心持犹豫态度。目前已知的情况……并未透露重点是利用现有数据中心——那将自成一套复杂麻烦的问题——还是鼓励和支持新建数据中心以配合供暖提案。”Howard 补充道：“当然，任何能减少对天然气依赖的举措都是双赢。现在下结论称其为一个项目还为时过早，目前它还处于概念阶段。”
The UK government says it is pumping £90 million ($119 million) into building and improving heat networks that redirect excess heat energy generated by a datacenter or factory and use it to warm homes or for other purposes. According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), more than 750,000 homes will get cheaper heating as part of the scheme, which includes plans for a “mega heat project” that involves distributing hot water via a tunnel under the River Thames. The latter initiative is being backed by £41 million ($54 million) in funding and the department claims it will supply 650,000 London homes alone with "clean heat." This is designed to make the capital less reliant on gas - similar schemes have operated for decades in cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Berlin. The reported on a project back in 2023 that planned to connect 10,000 new homes in west London with nearby server farms to use their waste energy for heating. Given the glacial pace of progress on any UK project these days, the first question must be when this is likely to happen. The recently completed Thames “super sewer” project took 9 years to finish and cost about £5 billion ($6.6bn), leading The Reg to wonder whether tunnels for the heat project will ever actually be dug, and what the final price tag will be. In the absence of pipes in tunnels, the government says the hot water will initially be transported 25 kilometers (15 miles) along the Thames each day by electric barges from a waste plant near Bexley, a faintly ridiculous idea that has prompted inevitable outbursts of scorn from the usual highbrow commenters on social media. A spokesperson for DESNZ told us the £41 million funding is just for the barge part of the project, which is expected to start operating from 2028, while it hopes the tunnels will be operational in the 2030s. There is currently no information on how much that potion of the project will cost. There is also the question of whether using the waste heat from datacenters is really that efficient. It was previously noted by the Uptime Institute that the temperature is typically not high enough for applications including domestic heating, so a heat pump is required, which uses more energy. A 2024 report released by trade association TechUK claimed that while the latest fifth generation of heat network designs can operate with the lower temperature output from a computer shed, most operating in the UK are third-gen systems, which have lower energy efficiency and higher carbon intensity. Despite these doubts, a survey finds that about 60 percent of British people think planning permission for datacenters should be dependent on them supplying their excess heat to local homes and businesses, while 62 percent said they would be more supportive of a project in their area if it did commit to this. The polling was conducted by EnergiRaven, a firm advising on energy efficiency, which calls for all new server farms above 1 MW in capacity to include heat sharing infrastructure. As bit barn development continues to draw controversy, sharing waste heat could give operators another way to demonstrate their value to local communities, helping to build greater public support for new facilities, the firm claims. Alan Howard of tech analyst group Omdia commented: "District heating is certainly a win for any community, and for datacenters it may shine a positive light as some communities are hesitant to embrace them. What’s known so far… doesn’t reveal if the focus is on exploiting existing datacenters, which would [be] its own can of worms, or encouraging and supporting new datacenters to support the heating proposal." Howard added: "Of course, anything that might lighten the dependence on gas dependence is a win as well. It’s too early to call it a project, rather at this stage it is a concept. However, the government commitment is impressive and important to make such sweeping changes and upgrades to what sounds to be an aging and perhaps inefficient existing system." Omdia's Howard tells The Reg: "Obviously, of the many risk characteristics for such and undertaking there are a few that stand out: As a government led project the actual progress and timeline could be messy and long. The engineering for such a significant effort (“transporting hot water 25 km each day by electric barges “, not to mention the tunnels under the Thames) is certain to find a litany of challenges to overcome- While the funding sounds significant, real world experience in construction of seemingly exotic projects could easily balloon many time over." Other heat networks that can expect multi-million-pound investment from the DESNZ include an extension to an existing system in Solihull in England’s midlands, a project at Marble Arch in London serving offices, homes, hotels and businesses around Oxford Street, and another in London at Bexley and Greenwich that may serve up to 100,000 homes when fully built. ®
然而，政府为对听起来老化且可能低效的现有系统进行如此全面的变革和升级所做出的承诺令人印象深刻且至关重要。Omdia的Howard告诉The Reg：“显然，对于这样一项工程的众多风险特征中，有几个尤为突出：作为一个政府主导的项目，实际进度和时间表可能会混乱且漫长。如此重大工程的工程技术挑战（‘每天用电动驳船运输热水25公里’，更不用说泰晤士河下的隧道）必将面临一系列亟待克服的挑战——虽然资金听起来数额可观，但现实世界中看似非同寻常的项目建设经验表明，成本很容易膨胀数倍。” 预计将获得DESNZ数百万英镑投资的其他热力网络包括：英格兰中部索利哈尔现有系统的扩建项目、伦敦大理石拱门项目（服务牛津街周边的办公楼、住宅、酒店和企业），以及伦敦贝克斯利和格林威治的另一个项目，完全建成后可能为多达10万户家庭供热。®
The UK government says it is pumping £90 million ($119 million) into building and improving heat networks that redirect excess heat energy generated by a datacenter or factory and use it to warm homes or for other purposes. According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), more than 750,000 homes will get cheaper heating as part of the scheme, which includes plans for a “mega heat project” that involves distributing hot water via a tunnel under the River Thames. The latter initiative is being backed by £41 million ($54 million) in funding and the department claims it will supply 650,000 London homes alone with "clean heat." This is designed to make the capital less reliant on gas - similar schemes have operated for decades in cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna and Berlin. The reported on a project back in 2023 that planned to connect 10,000 new homes in west London with nearby server farms to use their waste energy for heating. Given the glacial pace of progress on any UK project these days, the first question must be when this is likely to happen. The recently completed Thames “super sewer” project took 9 years to finish and cost about £5 billion ($6.6bn), leading The Reg to wonder whether tunnels for the heat project will ever actually be dug, and what the final price tag will be. In the absence of pipes in tunnels, the government says the hot water will initially be transported 25 kilometers (15 miles) along the Thames each day by electric barges from a waste plant near Bexley, a faintly ridiculous idea that has prompted inevitable outbursts of scorn from the usual highbrow commenters on social media. A spokesperson for DESNZ told us the £41 million funding is just for the barge part of the project, which is expected to start operating from 2028, while it hopes the tunnels will be operational in the 2030s. There is currently no information on how much that potion of the project will cost. There is also the question of whether using the waste heat from datacenters is really that efficient. It was previously noted by the Uptime Institute that the temperature is typically not high enough for applications including domestic heating, so a heat pump is required, which uses more energy. A 2024 report released by trade association TechUK claimed that while the latest fifth generation of heat network designs can operate with the lower temperature output from a computer shed, most operating in the UK are third-gen systems, which have lower energy efficiency and higher carbon intensity. Despite these doubts, a survey finds that about 60 percent of British people think planning permission for datacenters should be dependent on them supplying their excess heat to local homes and businesses, while 62 percent said they would be more supportive of a project in their area if it did commit to this. The polling was conducted by EnergiRaven, a firm advising on energy efficiency, which calls for all new server farms above 1 MW in capacity to include heat sharing infrastructure. As bit barn development continues to draw controversy, sharing waste heat could give operators another way to demonstrate their value to local communities, helping to build greater public support for new facilities, the firm claims. Alan Howard of tech analyst group Omdia commented: "District heating is certainly a win for any community, and for datacenters it may shine a positive light as some communities are hesitant to embrace them. What’s known so far… doesn’t reveal if the focus is on exploiting existing datacenters, which would [be] its own can of worms, or encouraging and supporting new datacenters to support the heating proposal." Howard added: "Of course, anything that might lighten the dependence on gas dependence is a win as well. It’s too early to call it a project, rather at this stage it is a concept. However, the government commitment is impressive and important to make such sweeping changes and upgrades to what sounds to be an aging and perhaps inefficient existing system." Omdia's Howard tells The Reg: "Obviously, of the many risk characteristics for such and undertaking there are a few that stand out: As a government led project the actual progress and timeline could be messy and long. The engineering for such a significant effort (“transporting hot water 25 km each day by electric barges “, not to mention the tunnels under the Thames) is certain to find a litany of challenges to overcome- While the funding sounds significant, real world experience in construction of seemingly exotic projects could easily balloon many time over." Other heat networks that can expect multi-million-pound investment from the DESNZ include an extension to an existing system in Solihull in England’s midlands, a project at Marble Arch in London serving offices, homes, hotels and businesses around Oxford Street, and another in London at Bexley and Greenwich that may serve up to 100,000 homes when fully built. ®