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Swiss Swimming Pool Warmed by Surplus Server Heat and Alliteration

There's clearly something going on with the Swiss and hot water: first "extreme jacuzzi-ing" on top of Mont Blanc, and now they're going to use waste energy kicked out by servers to warm a swimming pool. It's a simple concept: take the heat from the server room air-conditioners at a new data center, and direct it through heat exchangers to the water in the town pool. The town, Uitikon, will get a hot pool and all they had to pay for was some of the connecting gear since the heat would otherwise have been vented. Cool! ... or rather, hot! Darn eco-friendly too. [Sydney Morning Herald]

5:57 AM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Kit Eaton
3,297 views
15 comments

Comments

People Paula at 06:41 AM on 04/03/08
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Ah, if only I could power the world with the time I spend on YouTube.....
adf32 at 07:25 AM on 04/03/08
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A little Detail: The Mont Blanc is not in the swiss alps, but on the border between france and italy, in the french alps. [en.wikipedia.org]
NoStyle at 07:35 AM on 04/03/08
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Swiss obsession with soaking in hot water? From what I have heard, the hot water breaks their plastic capsules open and they absorb the water and expand into strange creatures.
Way at 07:38 AM on 04/03/08
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Source: "The computers in the Uitikon centre will throw off enough heat to warm as many as 80 houses."

A more engaging process, but I see this happening soon enough. Maybe start small with an apartment building or something similar. Nonetheless, it's a great idea to recycle that hot air.
Papsky at 08:09 AM on 04/03/08
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@People Paula: or by the time spent downloading pron
Monty at 09:42 AM on 04/03/08
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Genius! All I need is a pool. And an engineer to figure out how to do it. Of course, a server room would help, too. But, other than that -- I should have this set up in no time.
macorange at 09:45 AM on 04/03/08
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Now all they need is the Swedish Chef to cook 'em...(yes, I know the Swedish Chef is not Swiss...)

"Gersh gurndy morn-dee burn-dee, burn-dee, flip-flip-flip-flip-flip-flip-flip-flip-flip."
SigmundTheSeaMonster at 09:49 AM on 04/03/08
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Meh. I heat my house downloading Euro Porn!
adf32 at 10:20 AM on 04/03/08
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A little Detail: The Mont Blanc is not in the swiss alps, but on the border between France and Italy, in the french alps. [en.wikipedia.org]
wired203 at 11:21 AM on 04/03/08
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So a DDoS attack and you got cooked sweedes? mmmm cooked sweedes nomnomnomnom
uberfu at 11:25 AM on 04/03/08
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So with all the "global warming" going on - how does melting the ice in an icy place help?
Arvin Bautista at 11:39 AM on 04/03/08
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Let's keep figuring out this heat transfer thing! Like didn't someone develop a way to keep my coffee mug warm from the heat off my processor?
scotth0 at 12:58 PM on 04/03/08
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That's a lot of alliteration ...
Joseph at 03:49 PM on 04/03/08
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The pool is warm cuz the water is yellow.
Palestina at 07:02 PM on 04/09/08
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rofl @ that pic