A new system created by a French energy firm heats about 6 million square feet of office space, creating no emissions in the process. The Val d'Europe, a business park serving Disneyland Paris, reuses the heat from a nearby data centre’s air-conditioning units. Heat exchangers capture the excess energy and use it to heat water to 131 degrees Fahrenheit (55 degrees Celsius). The data centre pipes the hot water to a central plant, which distributes it to the business park.

Once the hot water reaches a building, it enters the building's substation, where it transfers its heat to the building's hot-water system. The now-cool water returns to the central pipe.  Dalkia's system is one of the world's first to pipe excess energy from a data centre to a network serving several buildings some distance away.

Source: Mother Nature Network