A leisure center in Exmouth, southwest England, is using a small data center to heat its indoor swimming pool and is testing an innovative solution that reduces its energy bills and carbon footprint. On-site installation reduces reliance on gas boilers by collecting the heat generated by the computer suite, bringing the 25-metre pool to the required temperature by about 65 percent.

Deep Green, the British company behind the project, provides free heat and pays for its own electricity, but charges customers for using its computers that can run on machine learning and artificial intelligence.

“It’s a symbiotic relationship. We cool our computers for free,” Deep Green CEO Mark Bjornsgaard told AFP at their flagship site, the Exmouth Leisure Centre. “The pool works just as well as we do.”

Björnsgaard lifted the lid of a dishwasher-sized white box and revealed computers soaked in mineral oil that traps excess heat. The oil then enters a heat exchanger where it meets the cold pool water.

“Traditional data centers just radiate this heat. They use huge amounts of water to evaporate the heat,” said Björnsgaard, adding that 99 percent of this heat is lost to the atmosphere.

According to Bjornsgaard, about half the cost of running a data center goes to cooling computers.

“We do not have such an expense. Therefore, it is very good in terms of environmental and sustainability,” he said.

“Substantial Savings”

Peter Gilpin, CEO of LED Community Leisure, which operates the swimming pool, said the introduction of Deep Green technology was “very timely” after Russia invaded Ukraine last year and energy prices soared.

Utilities typically account for about a third of the total cost of running an entertainment center, and the pool’s annual gas bill more than tripled to around £80,000 ($102,000) before the data center was installed in March.

“We were really impressed with the rising cost of gas over the winter, but hopefully a very large portion of our heating costs will go to Deep Green technology next winter,” Gilpin said.

While it’s too early to judge the long-term results, they see “already a reduction in our gas consumption” and “significant savings” despite lower electricity costs in recent months. “Not only are we reducing our energy costs and gas consumption, which is the main benefit, we are also reducing our … carbon footprint.”

Gilpin said they were “proud” to be the first place to implement Deep Green technology and are now considering installing it in other swimming pools they manage.

But now they can compete.

Björnsgaard said they’ve seen “demand skyrocket” as thousands of potential properties across Europe want to use their technology, particularly pools and central heating systems. But Bjornsgaard said more and more companies are looking to use Deep Green computers because they’re “green” and “much cheaper than conventional cloud providers.”

“But we also provide some social benefits, right? “We heat the pool and help keep the pools open.”