Microsoft, ever mindful of the future, has figured out a great way to stay toasty. With a cloud server! Umm, what?
Microsoft conducted a study that went on to state that sending servers to apartments and office buildings could not only handle the computing needs of a great many people, but also replace their boilers and oil heaters. Seriously:
Physically, a computer server is a metal box that converts electricity into heat. The temperature of the exhaust air (usually around 40-50°C) is too low to regenerate electricity efficiently, but is perfect for heating purposes, including home/building space heating, cloth dryers, water heaters, and agriculture.
Your “Data Furnace”, as it would be called, would thus save you money and lower your carbon footprint by taking care of your energy needs while you fuck around on the internet. After all, all that heat has to go somewhere. Why not use it? Running older hardware wouldn’t even be an issue, because the more heat the better. Pretty cool. [Microsoft Research via DVICE]
stevjosco
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 10:19 AMUmm, someone needs to tell Microsoft about Summer.
TSH
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 10:51 AMDo you keep your PC(s) turned off in the Summer?
Josh
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 11:30 AMVery clever.
This would be perfect in countries where even Summer can get a little cold.
ba!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 1:23 PM‘pretty cool’ amirite?
Franz
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 at 4:56 PMAnd there goes your security. BAM. clearly MS have lost their marbles on the very foundation of why clouds are viable.
Better stick with Apple and Google.