Secondly, the 'rube goldberg' device pictured above is about 75% efficient at transferring heat to the loop at low temps and it drops to about 50-60% at higher temps above ~160. The second prototype is submerged in a silicon fluid and well insulated, Sri (senior scientist) is modeling the device now in Comsol
http://www.comsol.com/comsol-multiphysics?gclid=CNnmyLeI2MACFSsV7AodCTsALQ and its looking like we'll easily break into the mid 90% efficiency for heat capture with the device when submerged.
Are you saying that currently only 55% of the heat stays in the loop when you want to use it for refrigeration/AC? 45% waste?
As for the economics - free energy for computation isn't going to be economic? Remember we are using energy once and getting two benefits - heat and computation. You pay for the heat, the computation is free (from an energy perspective) except for the cost of the device.
Thanks-
Correct, it will not be economic.
Here's a simplified comparison for 1MW worth of computing power:
A: Classic datacenter
Capex:
- hardware: $1,000,000
- Warehouse+infrastructure: $200,000
Opex(yearly):
- Electricity: $570,000 (1.3MW at $0.05/kwh)
- Employees:$100,000
5 Year total: $4,500,000
| B: Distributed computing (using your method)
Capex:
- Hardware: $5,000,000*
- Cooling recovery system: $5,000,000* (~$1/W at 5MW)
- Distributing/shipping: $500,000
Opex:
- Employees: $500,000**
5 year total: $13,000,000
|
*Assuming it would require 5 times the amount of hardware because it's being used 25% of the time due to none of your applications requiring 100% load 100% of the time and a 20% efficiency loss due to the hot chips. This is also assuming the system is 100% efficient at recovering the heat but your post suggest it might be closer to 50%.
**I've got no idea how many people it takes to properly run a distributed computing network but I'm sure it takes more than the 2 people needed top operate a large scale bitcoin mine. (guessing at least 10 employees)So basically you will have ~$9.3M extra startup costs so you can save ~$170k/year.. In this scenario it would take more than 50 years to pay off.
Overall cool idea, just entirely unpractical like solar roadways.
Side note: Do you plan on having certified technicians around the country ready to fix peoples heater/AC/refrigeration systems when they stop working? Will you be reimbursing customers for all their spoiled food when the computer crashes for a few hours?