Bonum Certa Men Certa

Computers as a Heat Source

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 09, 2025,
updated Jan 10, 2025

Image of bike painted on bricks of a bike path

IT'S not a secret - or hardly a secret - that we have many computers and screens running here in "the offices". Last year it was 9 computers, now it's down to 7 (laptops) and they're constantly wired/connected to half a dozen external monitors. They work non-stop, albeit some go to sleep if unused for a period of time. Each of these produces heat, some more than others (depending on activity too, as modern PCs throttle down or re-scale CPU clock speeds). Let's consider the amount of heat they can emit*.

Depending on the type of computer, screen size etc. the emissions of heat will vary. Using TVs (or "smart" TVs) as a reference, some dudes online say that nearly all energy entered into the screen (TV) will be released as heat. "Obviously," a dude said, "some of the energy is given off as light and sound but the majority is emitted immediately as heat. I’d guess at around 90% so if your TV rating plate states 30 Watts maximum, the heat generated will be less than 27 Watts."

Based on intuition and common sense, this isn't far from the truth and the same goes for laptops, where a lot of energy is consumed (when idle) by the monitor that's built in.

Now, suppose you have over a dozen activated monitors in a room or two. Suppose some are taking up just 20 Watts each, on average. That makes a total of around 200 Watts, more than what the aquarium makes if it works non-stop to warm up the water. A decent heating device can operate at 1,000 Watts or more (as high as 2,000 or above), but for a couple of rooms (or a floor) not that much is needed. That means that insulation alone (in a room with many computers) can be OK in a night with outdoor temperatures close to -10**. Accounting for factors other than energy emissions, it can be a "breeze", relatively speaking, so a lot of energy gets recycled or reused.

More than 20 years ago when I worked at MCC (not accidentally the name of the first GNU/Linux distro***, ever!) our offices were attached through the shaft to the datacentre feeding off JANET. The offices - including mine (I had my own office at age 21) - were heated by using energy from servers in that datacentre. We should still be able to do this. In cold days there's no point spewing out the energy outwards rather than inwards.

_____

* Set aside factors such as body heat (clothing too), double glazing (insulation), the 200 Watts heater inside the aquarium, hot beverages, radiator (or central heating) etc.

** This is relevant today because from almost 20 degrees last January (in the north) we've fallen to -8 as expected tonight for Manchester ("temperatures set to plummet as low as minus 16C in some areas," says local news). It's hard to recall a night (or day) this cold here, but it's not unprecedented.

*** Owen, who was my colleague at MCC for several years, had created MCC. After all those years he's still in the University of Manchester (or Victoria University of Manchester, prior to the UMIST merger).

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 01/04/2025: Games and More
Links for the day
Why We're Reporting Brett Wilson LLP for Apparently Misusing Their Licence to Protect American Microsofters Who Attack Women
For those who have not been keeping abreast
Stefano Maffulli and His Microsoft-Funded OSI Staff Are Killing the OSI and Killing "Open Source" (All for Money!)
This is far from over
Techrights Headlines as Semaphore
"If you are hearing this, thank you"
 
Ubuntu Slop and FUD Manufactured With LLMs and Funded (by Oneself) 'Studies'
Slop and FUD are ruining the Web
Links 01/04/2025: Apple Fined $162M for Privacy Abuses, Disinformation Online a Growing Concern
Links for the day
Newer Press Reports Confirm That Microsoft Shuts Down 'Hey Hi' (AI) Labs Despite All the Hype
The "hey hi" (AI) bubble is not sustainable
Links 01/04/2025: Mass Layoffs at Eidos and "Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers" (Demand Lacking); "Racist and Sexist" Slop From Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/04/2025: XKCDpunk and worldclock.py
Links for the day
50 Years of Sabotage and a Gut Punch to Computer Science (and Science in General)
Will we get back to science-based computing rather than cult-like following?
3 Months in 2025, 4 Waves of Mass Layoffs at Microsoft, Now Offices Shut Down Permanently
"A recent visit by the South China Morning Post confirmed that the office was dark, unoccupied, and had its logo removed."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 31, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 31, 2025
Links 31/03/2025: China Tensions, Bombs Falling in Myanmar After Earthquake
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: Falling Out of Love With Tech, Sunsetting openSNP
Links for the day
R.T.O. at IBM in Texas and Atlanta (State of Georgia) Expected as "Soft Layoffs" Catalyst This Coming Year
It also sounds like more IBM layoffs are in the making
Law Firms Can Also Lose Their Licence for Clearly Misusing It
The bottom line is, never made the false assumption that because you can pile up SLAPPs in a docket you will not suffer from bad reputation or even get disbarred
Link between institutional abuse, Swiss jurists, Debianism and FSFE
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
LLM Slop Piggybacking News About GNU/Linux and Distorting It
new examples
Links 31/03/2025: Press and Democracy Under Further Attacks in the US, Attitudes Towards Slop Sour
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: The OSI Does Not Respect Anybody's Privacy
The surveillance mafia that bans dissent or key people (even co-founders) with dissenting views
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: More X-Filesposting and Dreaming in Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 30, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 30, 2025