Date Published:
June 13, 2017, 11:45 p.m.
Qarnot computing designed the Q.rad, an electric radiator using high-performance processors as a heat source. Totally silent, the device gets its computing instructions through the Internet (via fiber optics). The heat produced by workload processing provides free and efficient heating for homes and any premises connected to the Internet. Through a thermal regulation system and a proprietary workload distribution platform, processing and heating power can be matched all year long.
Recognized by the EU H2020 Open & Disruptive Innovation Scheme, the Q.rad merges an electrical heater with a multi-processor HPC server. It is the Third Industrial generation heater.
It allows the Q.rad to process data, and thus emanate heat, remotely. It constitutes a complementary alternative to data centers, which create waste two-fold: heat from data processing that goes unused, and the subsequent cooling of this wasted heat. The Q.rad thus significantly lowers the carbon footprint of both data processing and household heating.
Democratizing computing power
Running water has been supplied to contemporary buildings since the XIXth century. In the XXIst century, Qarnot believes that all modern buildings should be equipped with running intelligence. We believe that smart appliances providing free and recycled heat will replace traditional, energy-hungry systems. All buildings will be smart and build with the digital in mind.
Our information-hungry societies produce huge amounts of data to be analysed and processed. Sophisticated software and research models generate soaring needs for computing power. Complementary alternatives to the traditional concentrated data centre model are needed. The diversification of infrastructure designs is key for a transition towards a sustainable digital economy.
The cities of Paris and Bordeaux decided to deploy Q.rads in social housing and office buildings.
Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris: “Major cities must commit […] to speed up the ecological transition of our economies. Paris already heats a social housing building for free with digital heaters.”
Jeremy Rifkin: “Qarnot computing promotes a new era of data centers where computing power is distributed between buildings and where excess of heat from computer/radiators heat homes.”
Qarnot official webpage: http://www.qarnot-computing.com/
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