热能再利用：是时候做这门生意了
Heat reuse: It’s time it meant business
Peter Judge，DCD
近年来，越来越多的数据中心开始尝试将余热利用起来,相比让这些余热白白浪费，能够把服务器产生的余热回收再利用，将是未来数据中心“双碳”发展的必然趋势。
如果你免费提供热量，似乎没有人想要它，那么给它定价会使它更具吸引力吗？
If you give your heat away for free, no one seems to want it. Does putting a price on it make it more appealing?
数据中心运营商喜欢谈论热回收，但他们可能更多的是空谈多于行动。这是有原因的，但所有这一切都可能即将改变。让我们从头说起。有多少能量以热量的形式从数据中心流出？有多少被浪费了？你能用它做什么？
Data center operators like to talk about heat reuse, but they probably talk about it more often than they actually do it. There are reasons for that, but all that could be about to change.Let’s start with the basics. How much energy comes out of the data center as heat, how much is wasted, and what can you do with it?
第一个问题的简短回答是“全部”。能量没有被消耗，而是从一种形式转变为另一种形式。在完成其他任务后，剩下的就是热量。因此，一个100MW的数据中心或多或少将产生100MW的热量。
The short answer to the first question is “all of it.” Energy is not consumed, but changes from one form to another. After performing other tasks, what is left is heat. So a 100MW data center will produce, more or less, 100MW of heat.
降低电能利用效率（PUE）的数据中心效率措施旨在管理服务器散热所需能量，因此用于冷却的能量更少，这意味着每瓦的计算用能更多。一旦能量变成了热量，其他地方不需要的能量就会被释放出来，实际上就是浪费了。
Data center efficiency measures that reduce power usage effectiveness (PUE) are aimed at driving more of that energy through the servers, so less is used for cooling, which means more computation is done per Watt. Once the energy is heat, any that is not wanted elsewhere is released and, effectively, wasted.
可持续数字基础设施联盟(SDIA)负责人Max Schulze表示，以PUE衡量的数据中心效率已达到其实际极限:“随着时间的推移，数据中心在减少这一数字方面做得很好，现代数据中心的效率约为1.2至1.4，我认为我们不会比这更有效。因此，要达到下一个效率水平，唯一的方法就是利用热量。”但是谁想要数据中心的余热呢?从历史上看，大多数数据中心发现没有人想要他们的余热。它的温度太低，他们看不到它的任何价值。
Data center efficiency, measured by PUE is reaching its practical limits, says Max Schulze head of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA): “Data centers did a good job over time reducing this number, it’s about 1.2 to 1.4 in the modern data center, and I don’t think we’ll get more efficient than that. So the only way to reach the next level of efficiency is to use the heat.” But who wants data center waste heat? Historically most data centers have found that no one else wants their waste heat. Its temperature is too low for them to see any value in it.
“我们想要的是数字服务，但我们也得到了低等级的热量，”瑞典RISE数据中心研究负责人Jon Summers教授说。“它不够热，不能做任何事情，除了一点空间加热。这就是问题所在。但也有例外，其中之一是斯德哥尔摩数据园，这是一个位于斯德哥尔摩市中心附近的30MW园区，数据中心连接到区域供热系统，该系统为他们的热空气付费。
“What we want is digital services, but we also get low grade heat,” says Professor Jon Summers, research leader in data centers at RISE in Sweden. “It’s not sufficiently hot to do anything with, except a bit of space heating. Therein lies the problem.” There are exceptions, one of which is Stockholm Data Parks, a 30MW campus near the center of Stockholm where data centers connect to a district heating system, which pays them for their hot air.
但只有一小部分设施位于有区域供暖系统的城市，这些系统可以吸收热量，而且气候寒冷，当地家庭和企业需要大量供暖。
But only a small minority of facilities are in cities where there is a district heating system in place which can take their heat, and where the climate is cold enough that local homes and businesses need a lot of warming up.
“你不能去非洲对他们说'你应该进行余热利用’。这毫无意义，” Schulze说。
“You can’t go to Africa and say to them ’you should do heat reuse’. It makes no sense,” says Schulze.
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但大多数数据中心都在北半球的富裕国家，他说:“西方世界的大部分都在北半球。所以是的，我们确实需要热量。这对我们整个社会都很有价值。”尽管如此，余热利用通常是“洗绿”， 公司口头上支持一个想法，看起来更好，没有任何实际结果。例如，在Schulze的家乡阿姆斯特丹有一些数据中心，它们已经“做好了热量回收准备”，但他问道:“这意味着什么?只有一根管道从数据中心伸出。
But the majority of data centers are in the wealthy countries in the Northern hemispheres, he says: “Most of the western world is in the northern hemisphere. So yes, we do need the heat. It is very valuable to us as a society.” Despite this, heat reuse is often “greenwash”, where a company pays lip service to an idea, to look better, without any practical results. For instance, there are data centers in Schulze’s native Amsterdam, which are “heat recovery ready” but, he asks: “What does it mean? There is a pipe sticking out of the data center.
加油！他说，该数据中心没有做出真正的努力来利用其热量。
Come on!” That data center has made no real effort to get its heat used, he says.
阿姆斯特丹在2019年禁止了两年的新数据中心项目，部分原因是能源浪费。荷兰数据中心运营商提供了他们的热量，但负责收集热量的厂商在别处。
Amsterdam banned new data center projects for two years in 2019, partly due to energy waste. Dutch data center operators had offered their heat but the responsibility for collecting lay elsewhere.
但是，余热利用很难做到是有原因的。以Aquila Capital的数据中心部门AQ Compute为例，该公司对能源再利用非常热衷。
But, there are reasons why heat reuse is hard to do. Take the case of AQ Compute, the data center arm of Aquila Capital, which could not be more keen on energy reuse.
它正在与高效的IT公司Cloud&Heat合作，该公司正在奥斯陆建立AQ的第一个数据中心。
It’s partnering with efficient IT firm Cloud&Heat, which is building AQ’s first data center in Oslo.
然而，事实证明，将奥斯陆数据中心与当地区域供热系统进行谈判是很棘手的，AQ Compute首席执行官Petter M. Tømmeraas承认，他是一位余热利用爱好者，曾在挪威的绿山和Basefarm工作。
And yet, it’s proving tricky to negotiate the Oslo data center onto the local district heating system, admits AQ Compute CEO Petter M. Tømmeraas, a heat reuse enthusiast who formerly worked at Norway’s Green Mountain, as well as Basefarm.
“在挪威，余热利用是一种情怀“我也是挪威数据中心行业集团的主席，我们有工作组在整个行业中研究这个问题。”因此，Tømmeraas检查了计划中的奥斯陆设施的废热利用:“在挪威，超过一定规模的设施必须做一份余热利用报告。你至少得看一眼，”他说。“但我不需要被强迫这么做。我真的很想在任何地方都这样做。”他说，问题是成本很高，这可能会使数据中心失去竞争力，“因为其他人不会这样做”。
“In Norway, heat reuse is a passion,” he says. “I’m also chair of the Norwegian Data Center industry Group, and we have working groups looking into it across the entire industry.” So Tømmeraas checked out heat reuse at the planned Oslo facility: “Over a certain size, it’s a requirement in Norway to do a report on heat reuse. You have to at least have a look at it,” he says. “But I didn’t need to be forced to do this. I would really like to do it everywhere.” The trouble is the costs are high, and it can make a data center uncompetitive, he said, “because other people will not do it”.
尽管存在区域供暖系统，但Tømmeraas尚未决定经济是否有利于连接。“数据中心的第一部分将通过间接的空气对空气系统进行冷却，这使得余热利用比水基系统更加棘手。”他说，这可能太困难了，因为:“我们有空气，而空气不是好的热源。
Despite the presence of a district heating system, Tømmeraas has yet to decide whether the economics work in favor of hooking up. “The first part of the data center will be cooled by indirect air to air systems, and that makes heat reuse more tricky than in water-based systems.” It may turn out to be too difficult, he says, because: “We have air, and air is not a good source for heat.
将热量传递给水，可能会失去效率。
Transferring the heat to water, could lose efficiency.”
目前，数据中心热量是免费的。但它不能保证交付。所以这是最糟糕的产品。您可以随时使用它，但不要问我它是否有效。
Right now, data center heat is free. But it comes with no guarantee of delivery. So it’s the worst kind of product. You can use it whenever you want. But don’t ask me if it works -- Max Schulze
挪威可能是唯一一个对数据中心的余热利用设定正式要求的地方。但这项于 2021 年推出的措施只是要求所有数据中心必须检查这种可能性并生成报告。
Norway may be the only place to set formal requirements for heat reuse by data centers. But the measure, introduced in 2021, is only a demand that all data centers must examine the possibility and produce a report.
许多设施可能会发现它在经济上不值得，就像AQ Compute一样。
Many facilities might find it isn’t economically worthwhile, as was the case with AQ Compute.
挪威政府希望数据中心成为一个不断增长的商业部门。它们必须是绿色的，才能被公民接受，并通过国家的环境计划。
Norway’s government wants data centers as a growing business sector. They are required to be green in order to be accepted by citizens, and pass muster with the country’s environmental plans.
这似乎是其他地方的一种模式。在城市地区，数据中心是税收的一个很好的来源，但它们需要土地和电力。即使他们选择了可再生能源，他们也会把可再生能源的目标推到遥不可及的地步。
That seems to be a pattern elsewhere. In urban areas data centers are a good source of tax revenue, but they need land, and power. Even if they select renewable energy, they can push renewable energy targets out of reach.
在丹麦，大量超大规模的数据中心都选择了绿色能源，导致政府预测将没有可再生能源来实现其目标。在回应中，国家已经改变了余热利用的规则，以鼓励数据中心参与其中。
In Denmark, an influx of hyperscale data centers are all opting for green energy, leading to government predictions that there will be no renewable power left to meet its targets. Among the responses, the country has altered rules on the heat reuse, to encourage data centers to take part.
阿姆斯特丹在2019年禁止了两年的新数据中心项目，这一暂停似乎在一定程度上取决于余热利用。荷兰数据中心运营商提供了他们的热量，但正如SDIA的Schulze所描述的那样，收集热量的责任在别处。
Amsterdam banned new data center projects for two years in 2019, a moratorium which seems to have hinged partly on heat reuse. Dutch data center operators had offered their heat but, as the SDIA’s Schulze describes, the responsibility for collecting lay elsewhere.
阿姆斯特丹负责可持续发展的议员玛丽克·范·多尼克(Marieke van Doorninck)说:“我们将在为家庭供暖免费提供余热方面设定要求。”
“We are going to set requirements in the area of making available residual heat free of charge for the heating of homes,” said Amsterdam’s Alderman for sustainability, Marieke van Doorninck.
但运营商表示，他们已经在这么做了。荷兰数据中心协会(Dutch Datacenter Association)的朱迪斯·德兰格(Judith De Lange)表示:“2017年，我们表示将免费提供(余热)，以此作为开始讨论的一种方式。”阿姆斯特丹数据中心在建造时考虑到了余热利用，但它是在“上门收集”的基础上提供的。其他人必须花钱来建造利用热量的基础设施。
But operators said they were already doing that. “In 2017, we said we would give [waste heat] for free, as a way to start discussion,” said Judith De Lange of the Dutch Datacenter Association. Amsterdam data centers are built with heat reuse in mind, but it is offered on a “collect at the door” basis. Someone else has to pay to build the infrastructure to make use of the heat.
2021年，禁令解除，并承诺将进一步讨论这一问题。
In 2021, the moratorium lifted, with a promise that the issue will be discussed further.
法兰克福也在一定程度上限制了数据中心，一位地方法官要求数据中心对热量采取一些措施。地方法官承认存在困难，因为30°C到40°C的温度水平对于大多数区域供热网络来说太低了。在斯堪的纳维亚半岛，人们使用热泵来提高余热的温度，但这在法兰克福并不经济，“因为德国的能源价格很高。”爱尔兰目前面临着对数据中心的强烈反对，公用事业公司Eirgrid将在都柏林地区限制数据中心。AWS已经加入了那里的区域供暖计划，为都柏林南部的家庭和办公室提供供暖。
Frankfurt also clamped down on data centers somewhat, with a magistrate asking them to do something with their heat. The magistrate acknowledged the difficulty, that a temperature level of 30°C to 40°C is too low for most district heating networks. In Scandinavia heat pumps are used, to boost the temperature of waste heat, but that’s not economical in Frankfurt, “due to the high energy prices in Germany.” Ireland currently faces a backlash against data centers, with utility Eirgrid due to restrict them in the Dublin area. Already, AWS has joined a district heating scheme there, offering heat to homes and offices in South Dublin.
由于法规悬而未决，欧洲的数据中心运营商纷纷承诺在2020年的《气候中性数据中心公约》中实现碳中和。它在承诺中包括余热利用，但只是作为一个讨论的话题。
With regulations pending, Europe’s data center operators lined up to promise carbon neutrality in the Climate Neutral Data Center Pact in 2020. It includes heat reuse in its promises, but only as a topic of discussion.
“数据中心运营商将探索与区域供暖系统和其他热量用户互联的可能性，以确定将新数据中心捕获的热量输送到附近系统的机会是否切实可行、环保且经济有效，”该协议的网站上写道。
“Data center operators will explore possibilities to interconnect with district heating systems and other users of heat to determine if opportunities to feed captured heat from new data centers into nearby systems are practical, environmentally sound and cost effective,” says the Pact’s site.
我认为数据中心部门犯了一个严重的错误。他们没有给热量定价
I think that the data center sector has made one critical mistake. They didn’t put a price on the heat -- Max Schulze
这似乎是一场艰苦的斗争，但随着国家电网在应对气候变化方面的变化，这种情况可能会改变。目前正在大力推动脱碳，在可能的情况下用可再生能源发电取代化石燃料。
It may seem an uphill struggle, but that could change, as national grids change in the fight against climate change. There’s a big drive to decarbonize, replacing fossil fuel where possible, with electricity from renewable sources.
除交通运输外，供暖也是需要脱碳的主要领域。在英国等国家，超过80%的家庭使用燃气取暖。这样更便宜。
Along with transport, heating is a major area which needs decarbonization. In countries like the UK, more than 80 percent of homes are heated with gas. It’s been cheaper that way.
“现在，热量是一种非常有价值的商品，尤其是当由电力制成时，” Schulze说。想要减少碳排放的城市应该尽最大努力将热量转移到家庭和企业，在那里它可以取代化石燃料。
“Now, heat is a very valuable commodity, especially when made from electricity,” says Schulze. Cities that want to reduce their carbon emissions should be doing their best to redirect that heat to homes and businesses, where it can displace fossil fuels.
但是，Tømmeraas发现经济学困难是什么呢?
But what about the economics that Tømmeraas found so difficult?
数据中心应该能够从中赚钱，这根本不是问题，” Schulze说。他说，他们的做法是错误的。
“Data centers should be able to make money off it, that’s no problem at all,” says Schulze. He says they are approaching it wrong.
“我认为数据中心部门犯了一个严重的错误，”他说。“他们没有给热量定价。他们一直免费提供热量，这破坏了它的业务。他们应该给它贴上价格标签。”
“I think that the data center sector has made one critical mistake,” he says. “They didn’t put a price on the heat. They keep giving the heat away for free, which destroys the business of it. They should put a price tag on it.”
数据中心不可能建立完整的热回收系统，因为大量的热回收都在它所接入的区域供热设备中。能源公司只有在知道这些热量是可靠来源的情况下才会投资使用。
Data centers can’t build the whole heat recovery system, because a lot of it is in the district heat plants it plugs into. And energy companies will only invest to use that heat if they know it is a reliable source.
Schulze说，如果定价和估值合理，“一家能源公司可以说，我们从这个数据中心获得的热量比其他任何地方都便宜，所以让我们使用来自数据中心的热量。但是免费？我不能把它放在电子表格中。”
If it is priced and valued, Schulze says, “an energy company can say, the heat we’re getting from this data center is cheaper than what we are getting any anywhere else, so let’s use the heat from the data center. But free? I can’t put that in a spreadsheet.”
价格的缺乏不仅仅是表面的：“现在，数据中心的热量是免费的。但它不能保证交付。所以这是最糟糕的产品。您可以随时使用它。但不要问我是否有效！Schulze说，在早期阶段，由于所需的基础设施成本高，余热可能必须像风电场一样得到补贴。
The lack of price is more than cosmetic: “Right now, data center heat is free. But it comes with no guarantee of delivery. So it’s the worst kind of product. You can use it whenever you want. But don’t ask me if it works!” In the early stages, because of the infrastructure required, waste heat might have to be subsidized, in the same way as wind farms have been, says Schulze.
“如果我给数据中心的热量贴上价格标签，那么像[SDIA]这样的组织可以游说对它进行补贴，使其成为（比如）伦敦金融城最便宜的热量。然后每个人都会得到热量。您不必担心建造管道和区域供热系统，因为这在经济上是最好的做法。
“If I put a price tag on data center heat, then organizations like [SDIA] can lobby to put a subsidy on it, to make it the cheapest heat available in (say) the City of London. And then everybody will get the heat. You don’t have to worry about building pipes and district heating systems, because it’s economically the best thing to do.”
对于数据中心行业的进步，Schulze听起来有点恼火:“现在数据中心行业的每个人都是能源专家，对吧?但事实是他们对此一无所知。这不关他们的事。”
Schulze sounds mildly irritated at the data center sector’s progress: “Everybody in the data center industry is now an energy expert, right? But the fact is they don’t know anything about it. It’s not their business.”
我们解决余热利用问题的唯一方法是能源供应商参与进来。
The only way we are going to solve the issue of heat reuse, is if energy providers get involved --- Professor Jon Summers RISE
Summers对此表示赞同:“在我看来，我们解决余热利用问题的唯一方法就是能源供应商参与进来。”除此之外，从事热能业务的能源公司应该知道不同类型的热量分布之间的区别。
Summers agrees: “In my view, the only way we are going to solve the issue of heat reuse, is if energy providers get involved.” Apart from anything else, energy firms which deal in heat will know the difference between different types of heat distribution.
Summers说，区域供热系统一直在发展，虽然第三代系统需要在高温下输入热量，但第四代系统更容易接受:“如果数据中心使用液体冷却，第四代区域供热可以直接从数据中心提供热量。”
District heating systems have been evolving, says Summers, and while third generation systems require input heat at high temperatures, fourth-generation systems are more forgiving: “A fourth generation district heating could be fed directly from data centers, if they use liquid cooling,” he says.
和许多人一样，Summers把废热利用和液冷联系起来:“这是液冷的最大驱动力。我真的看不到任何其他好处，因为如果你有足够高的气流速度，你通常可以用空气冷却，”他说，“……尽管有时候这会让你很难打开数据中心的门!”
Like many people, Summers makes a link between heat reuse and liquid cooling: “It’s the biggest driver for liquid cooling. I don’t really see any other benefits, because you can usually cool with air if you have a high enough air flow velocity,” he says, “...though sometimes that can make it hard to open the data center door!”
Schulze说:“这不是技术问题，不是液体冷却之类的。这是一个经济学问题。只要给它定价，然后卖给其他知道怎么做的人。“有一个极好的例子，”他说，“如果你拿一张卫星地图去斯劳，你会发现它在一个地方拥有世界上密度最高的数据中心。”与此同时，伦敦金融城(City of London)正试图摆脱用于供暖的天然气，而斯劳(Slough)的供热能力达到了10亿瓦。”
Schulze says: “It’s not a technology problem, about liquid cooling or whatever. It’s an economics problem. Just put a price on it and sell it to somebody else who knows how to do it.” “There’s one fabulous example,” he says: “If you take a satellite map, and go to Slough, it has the highest density of data centers in one spot worldwide. At the same time as the City of London is trying to get out of gas for heating, you have a GigaWatt of heat generation capacity in Slough.”
他说，每个单独的数据中心可能都难以证明热量回收是正确的，但如果他们都说，“我们将以每兆瓦时30欧元的价格出售热量。”他说，“那是在40°C;如果你想要更高的温度，它就会变得更贵，因为我们必须买一个热泵。”
Each individual data center might have trouble justifying heat recovery, he says, but it’s a different story if they all say, “we’ll sell heat at €30 per MWh,” he says “That’s at 40°C; if you want a higher temperature, it gets more expensive, because we’re gonna have to buy a heat pump.”
Summers认为，数据中心不应该购买热泵——这是另一个应该留给专家的项目:“在我所看到的所有成功的项目中，能源供应商都是在照顾热泵而不是数据中心。”
For his part, Summers thinks data centers shouldn’t be buying heat pumps — they are one more item which should be left to experts: “In all the projects I’ve seen that are successful, the energy provider is looking after the heat pump not the data center.”
Summers举的一个例子是Facebook在丹麦欧登塞的设施:“能源供应商正在安装热泵，这是有道理的。”
One example Summers cites is Facebook’s facility in Odense, Denmark: “The energy provider is putting in heat pumps, which makes sense.”
在许多情况下，他怀疑热泵在材料和工厂方面可能无法通过完整的生命周期证明。在计算中可能会有大量的品牌价值感知。
In many cases he suspects a heat pump might not pass a full lifecycle justification in terms of materials and plant. There could be a large amount of brand value perception in the calculation.
Schulze说，能源供应商可以计算出收集热量的回报:“如果我们能从那里获得热量，那么管道的成本为x。通过管道，我们可以传递这么多热量。这为我们节省了这么多汽油，按照目前的汽油价格，好吧，哈利路亚，我们节省了很多钱。让我们建造管道！
Schulze says the energy suppliers could work out the return on collecting the heat: “If we can get heat from over there, then a pipe costs us X. And over the pipe, we can transfer this much heat. And that saves us this much gas and at the current gas price, well, hallelujah, we’re saving a lot of money. Let’s build the pipe!”
AQ Compute的Tømmeraas还认为，运营商和政府应该参与进来，以创造公平的竞争环境：“如果你想在任何地方开发余热利用，它应该是平等的。“
AQ Compute’s Tømmeraas also thinks operators — and governments — should be involved, to level the playing field: “If you want to develop heat reuse everywhere, it should be on equal terms.”
但是温度是不是太低了，导致没有用处呢? Schulze说:“如果你投资，就不会流失。当你通过DIN600绝缘管道传递热量时，热量不会在传递过程中流失。能源部门20年前就解决了这个问题。”
But isn’t the temperature too low to be useful? Not if you invest, says Schulze: “When you transfer the heat through DIN600 insulated pipes, it does not get lost on the way. The energy sector solved that 20 years ago.”
那些非常大的热管必须是一个公用事业项目，” Summers.说。“要求数据中心这样做是没有意义的。”
“Those really large heat pipes have to be a utility project,” says Summers. “It doesn’t make sense to ask data center to do this.”
当然，对于公用事业公司这样投资，热源必须是可靠的，Schulze说:“如果建造管道有利可图，他们就会建造管道。但你必须保证未来15年里会有热量。”
Of course, for utilities to invest like that, the heat will have to be reliable, says Schulze: “If it’s profitable to build the pipeline, they will build the pipeline. But you have to guarantee that there will be heat for the next 15 years.”
这不是数据中心的想法，因为新一代的技术可能会改变热量的排放，他承认:“但我的观点是，你可以把所有这些都定价，对吗?如果很难保证数据中心可以提供15年的热量，那么假设你将在10年内建造一个燃气锅炉供应热量，如果你必须这样做的话，并把它放在价格标签上。这只是经济问题。”
That’s not the way data centers think, as new generations of technology might change what heat is emitted, he admits: “But my point is, you can price all that in, right? If it’s difficult to guarantee that 15 years of heat will be available from the data center, then make the assumption that you’re going to build a gas boiler in 10 years if you have to, and put that into the price tag. It’s just about economics.”
与同样的电力产生的计算价值相比，热量的价值总是很小，但即使是这个小价值也会变得很重要，Schulze说:“我认为托管的整体利润率正面临越来越大的压力，尤其是因为它们的客户越来越大，拥有越来越多的电力。该行业正在发展成为一种商品。如果热量带来的收入能使你的利润率提高5%，那么在房地产领域，这是一大笔钱。
The value of heat is always going to be small compared with the value from the computing generated by the same electricity, but even that small value will become significant, says Schulze: “I think that the overall margins of colocation are becoming more and more under pressure, especially because their customers are becoming larger and larger and have more and more power. The sector is developing into a commodity. If the revenue from heat makes a five percent difference in your margins, then in real estate that’s a lot of money.”
Summers认为，解决方案将是当我们有能源供应商同时也是热能供应商时，就像北欧公用事业公司Vattenfall或Fortum的情况一样，他们成为数据中心更不可或缺的一部分，处理备份和散热。
Summers thinks the solution will be when we have energy providers who are also heat providers, as is often the case with Nordic utilities such as Vattenfall or Fortum, and they become a more integral part of data centers, handling backup and heat removal.
他说:“如果一家公用事业公司将电力作为一项服务提供，合同还可以处理可用性和备份，然后可以开始处理热量回收。”
“If a utility provides power as a service, the contract could also deal with availability and backup, and then can start to deal with heat recovery,” he says.
一份完整的电力服务合同将允许公用事业公司管理UPS以及电源，向数据中心支付偶尔使用其存储的电池能量来平衡电网的费用。它还可以让电网吸走热量，作为使用更少电力的一种方式提供给其能源客户。
A full power-as-a-service contract would let the utility manage the UPS, as well as the power supply, paying the data center for occasional use of its stored battery energy to balance the grid. It could also let the grid siphon off heat, to offer to its energy customers as a way of using less electricity.
这可以改善可持续发展的各个方面。但是我们需要建立很多信任。Summers.说：”许多运营商更愿意自己完全掌控一切。”
“That could improve aspects of sustainability. But there’s a lot of confidence-building needed,” said Summers. “A lot of operators are happier to have full control over everything themselves.”
一些数据中心可能在重复利用热量，但对环境没有帮助。例如，Facebook在瑞典的吕勒奥工厂远离大型人口中心，而这些中心可以利用其40MW的热量输出。尽管如此，它的大部分热量在建筑内部被重复利用。
Some data centers may be reusing their heat, but failing to help the environment. For instance, Facebook’s Lulea facility in Sweden is remote from large population centers that could make use of its 40MW heat output. Despite this, much of its heat is reused, within the building itself.
在冬天，Facebook会重复利用95%的热量。” Summers. 说到“数据中心的热空气与进来的空气混合，以获得目标温度。”
“In winter, Facebook reuses 95 percent of its heat,” says Summers.“Hot air from the data center is mixed with incoming air to get a target temperature.”
它需要这些热量的原因呢?这是因为建筑没有被设计成很好的隔热。数据中心仍在向外界流失热量，它只是通过屋顶而不是通过冷却系统。
And the reason it needs this heat? It’s because the building is not designed to be well insulated. The data center is still losing heat to the environment, it’s just through the roof instead of through a cooling system.
Summers说:“没有人忽视对数据中心进行隔离，因为他们必须管理大量的热量。
“Nobody insulates data centers, because they’ve got to manage a lot of heat,” says Summers.
余热利用的另一种方法是撇开通过供暖系统将热量传递给难以满足的本土客户的难题，转而面向需求更可预测的工业或农业客户。
Another approach to heat reuse is to leave aside the difficult question of delivering its warmth to hardto-please domestic customers through a heating system, and go for industrial or agricultural customers with more predictable demands.
这些可能包括农业温室，或利用热量干燥和处理污泥的污水处理公司。
These could include agricultural greenhouses, or sewage firms which use heat to dry and process sludge.
余热的其他用途包括干燥木屑颗粒或为养鱼场加热水。
Other uses for waste heat include drying wood pellets or warming water for fish farms.
当AQ Compute发现区域供暖系统难以证明其合理性时，它一直在寻找其他方法:“我们正在寻找其他方法，比如农业，”Tømmeraas说。
When AQ Compute found the district heating system tricky to justify, it has been looking elsewhere: “We are looking into other means like farming,” says Tømmeraas.
在某些情况下，数据中心可以搬到供热客户那里，并位于污水处理厂或液化天然气(LNG)终端，在那里它的热量有助于燃料再气化。
In some cases, the data center can move in with the heat customer, and be located at a sewage farm or a liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal, where its heat helps built to regasify the fuel.
德国高效计算公司Cloud&Heat Technologies走在了时代的前面。2014年，它提供了将数据中心硬件封装成类似锅炉的单元，安装在公寓楼中，这些单元可以使用它们的热量。从那时起，它发展到制造集装箱化的液冷 HPC 系统，其中余热利用是标准选项。
German efficient computing company Cloud&Heat Technologies was ahead of its time. In 2014, it offered data center hardware packaged into boiler-like units to be installed in apartment blocks, which could use their heat. Since then it’s evolved to make shipping containersized, liquid-cooled HPC systems, where heat reuse is a standard option.
它仍然提供家庭和办公室供暖。例如，它利用了位于法兰克福一座摩天大楼内的数据中心的热量，这座大楼曾是欧洲央行(European Central Bank)的所在地。
It still offers domestic and office heating. For instance, it harnesses the heat of a data center it runs in a Frankfurt skyscraper that once housed the European Central Bank.
但它也将其HPC设备放置在一些地点，其中包括瑞典能源公司Vattenfall运营的热电联产(CHP)工厂的两个20英尺的设备，在那里计算输出的500kW热量可以很容易地投入使用。
But it’s also placing its HPC units, on sites including two 20ft units at a combined heat and power (CHP) plant run by Swedish energy firm Vattenfall, where the 500kW heat from their computational output can be readily put to use.
“随着安装规模的增加，它将加强微型数据中心和液体冷却的情况，”Cloud&Heat创始人兼首席技术官Jens Struckmeier说。
“As the installation size is increased, it will strengthen the case for micro data centers and liquid cooling,” says Jens Struckmeier, Cloud&Heat founder and CTO.
“在炎热的气候下，余热利用并不总是可行或容易做到的，”他说，但它可以提供给其他客户。一个Cloud&Heat项目正在与一个海水淡化厂合作，该海水淡化厂由服务器的多余热量驱动。
“Heat reuse is not always possible or easy to do in hot climates,” he says, but it can be offered to other customers. One Cloud&Heat project is partnering with a sea water desalination plant driven by excess heat from the servers.
“由于相关性，这是一个非常特殊的应用，” Struckmeier.说。在炎热的气候条件下，一些数据中心用水来冷却，他说，“在这些地方，饮用水是一种宝贵的资源。”他说，液体冷却系统不消耗水，与海水淡化合作意味着他们创造了饮用水，而不是消耗它:“这是水和碳正能量。”
“It’s a very special application, because of the correlation,” says Struckmeier. In hot climates some data centers use water to cool them, he says “and these are places where drinking water is a precious resource.” Liquid cooling systems don’t consume water, he says, and partnering with desalination means they create potable water, rather than consume it: “It’s water and carbon positive.”
Summers对此表示赞同:“在我看来，我们解决余热利用问题的唯一方法就是能源供应商参与进来。”除此之外，从事热能业务的能源公司应该知道不同类型的热量分布之间的区别。
Summers agrees: “In my view, the only way we are going to solve the issue of heat reuse, is if energy providers get involved.” Apart from anything else, energy firms which deal in heat will know the difference between different types of heat distribution.
Summers说，区域供热系统一直在发展，虽然第三代系统需要在高温下输入热量，但第四代系统更容易接受:“如果数据中心使用液体冷却，第四代区域供热可以直接从数据中心提供热量。”
District heating systems have been evolving, says Summers, and while third generation systems require input heat at high temperatures, fourth-generation systems are more forgiving: “A fourth generation district heating could be fed directly from data centers, if they use liquid cooling,” he says.
和许多人一样，Summers把余热利用和液冷联系起来:“这是液冷的最大驱动力。我真的看不到任何其他好处，因为如果你有足够高的气流速度，你通常可以用空气冷却，”他说，“……尽管有时候这会让你很难打开数据中心的门!”
Like many people, Summers makes a link between heat reuse and liquid cooling: “It’s the biggest driver for liquid cooling. I don’t really see any other benefits, because you can usually cool with air if you have a high enough air flow velocity,” he says, “...though sometimes that can make it hard to open the data center door!”
风冷和液冷数据中心，谁会最先成为余热供暖的获利方？
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翻译：
黄洁晨
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贾梦檩
阿里云 暖通工程师
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