When Servers Heat Swimming Pools: New Project at StuBay

(eap) At the StuBay Leisure Centre in Telfes in Austria’s Stubai Valley (near Innsbruck), waste heat from water-cooled servers is set to be used to heat the aquatic facilities in the near future. To this end, the leisure centre is collaborating with Innsbruck-based Serwas Technologies, which operates the servers and rents out their computing capacity to external companies, including for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

The cooling technology developed by Serwas is designed to make it possible to use the waste heat generated during server operation, at temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius, directly for heating purposes – without the need for an additional heat pump. Instead of releasing the heat unused into the environment, it can thus be used to heat buildings. Serwas has already been operating a pilot installation at the Amraser Straße Indoor Swimming Pool in Innsbruck since April this year. The project at StuBay will now extend the concept to another leisure facility.

“We want to establish computing capacity wherever the resulting heat is needed directly. Swimming pools are particularly interesting in this respect because they have a high demand for heat throughout the year. Our goal is to create data centres that not only provide computing power but also heat buildings,” explains Timo Berkmann, co-founder of Serwas Technologies.

The first servers are scheduled to go into operation in December this year, with plans to expand the server capacity during the annual maintenance shutdown next year. StuBay expects the use of waste heat to reduce its demand for externally supplied heating energy by up to 40 per cent. This energy already comes from sustainable biomass heating. According to the leisure centre, the remaining potential for savings is therefore primarily economic, for example through the use of heat pumps.

“While these could reduce operating costs, they would ultimately run counter to a sustainable strategy. We therefore see the use of waste heat from servers as an ideal complement. Current developments show that demand for servers and computing power will increase enormously in the future. Essentially, we are providing the servers with a home where they receive cooling free of charge through the fresh water supply, while we use the heated water for our swimming pools,” explains Georg Schantl, Managing Director of StuBay.

According to Schantl, integration of the servers will not require any direct investment from StuBay. The leisure centre will merely provide the necessary space and electricity supply. The initial administrative effort is expected to be minimal and more than offset by the anticipated cost savings. In the longer term, there are also plans to install a larger photovoltaic system, which could eventually supply electricity for the servers. ■