Thermodynamics and the Law

The recent and extremely important discussion of the plan to build a data centre in the Point Tupper Business park is too often portrayed in the the public discussion as take it or leave it proposition.

 My education in the 70's as an electrical engineer nudged me to ask the question "How much of the electrical power used by data centers is converted to heat?" My physics professor might argue "all of it eventually" (See First Law of Thermodynamics ). The engineering question is how much of this heat can be captured for heating nearby buildings and how can we design a system to make it happen?

Ironically, the technology that invites me to "Google" an initial response to my design question depends on the very technology we sometimes question the need to have.

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How It Works

• First Law of Thermodynamics: Electrical energy entering a data center does not disappear. As servers, storage drives, and network gear process information, nearly all that electricity turns directly into heat. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• Signals and Transmission: A tiny fraction of energy leaves the facility as light or radio signals (less than 0.1%), and those signals eventually dissipate into heat when they reach their destination. [1, 2]

• The Cooling Multiplier: Because computing generates massive heat, data centers run heavy cooling systems (like air conditioners and water pumps) that consume additional electricity. That cooling electricity also ultimately converts into heat and gets expelled into the environment. [1, 2, 3]

• Total Thermal Output: Because of this dual power draw, a data center outputs essentially the full thermal equivalent of every watt of electricity it pulls from the grid (and sometimes more when counting total system lifecycle or co-located power sources). [1, 2]

Would you like to know more about how data center waste heat is captured for district heating or how cooling systems work to manage it?

 

ScienceDirect.com Waste heat utilization of data centers based on heat pump ... DCs consume large amounts of electricity, with approximately 90% of this energy being converted into heat, ...

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) Thermal Energy Networks Turn Data Center Waste Heat into a ... Key Takeaways: The U.S. energy sector has a data center problem. In 2023, data centers accounted for 4.4% of the nation's energy...

Energy Innovation How Much Energy Do Data Centers Really Use? How Much Energy Do Data Centers Really Use? Network devices connect the data center to the internet, enabling incoming and outgoing...

How data center waste heat is captured

Data center waste heat is captured primarily by replacing open-air or evaporative cooling systems with closed-loop liquid or air-to-water heat exchangers that siphon thermal energy into a distribution network. [1, 2]

The Heat Capture Process

• Closed-Loop Cooling Systems: Rather than blowing hot air outside or letting water evaporate into open cooling towers, modern data centers use sealed liquid loops—such as water circulating through server racks or direct-to-chip cooling plates—to absorb heat directly from the hardware. [1]

• Air-to-Water Exchangers: For traditional air-cooled facilities, hot exhaust air is funneled through "hot aisles" and passed across an air-to-water heat exchanger, which transfers the warmth into a secondary liquid loop. [1]

• Temperature Boosting via Heat Pumps: Server exhaust and coolant loops typically produce "low-grade" heat (ranging from 25°C to 60°C / 77°F to 140°F), which is too cool for standard building heating. Utility-scale heat pumps are used to upgrade this thermal energy to higher temperatures (often 70°C to 90°C) required by municipal grids. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• District Heating Networks (DHNs): The upgraded hot water is pumped through insulated underground pipelines to heat nearby residential homes, commercial offices, public pools, or industrial facilities. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Real-World Examples

• Finland (Microsoft & Fortum): A massive waste heat recovery collaboration captures heat from data centers to supply up to 40% of the district heating needs across Espoo, Kauniainen, and Kirkkonummi, warming thousands of local homes.

• Canada (Markham & Toronto): Facilities like the Equinix data center in Markham, Ontario, route recovered thermal energy through Markham District Energy to warm local condominiums, schools, and university buildings. In Toronto, Telehouse collaborates with Enwave Energy to blend deep-lake cooling with waste-heat reuse.

• France (Equinix & Paris): Data center heat recovery has been utilized to warm public infrastructure, such as heating the pool for the Paris Olympics. [1, 2, 3, 4]

The design work for the explore the economic payback and costs of retrofitting a data center for heat recovery, or look at regulatory mandates (such as the EU Energy Efficiency Directive) that now require it?

A massive data centre to provide computing power for the artificial intelligence giant Anthropic is in pre-construction just outside Port Hawkesbury in Cape Breton. Now is the time to advocate for a design that provides for additional benefits in use of the data centre heat by-product for commercial and residential energy cost reduction!

References

Thermal Energy Networks Turn Data Center Waste Heat into a. (n.d.). Environmental and Energy Study Institute | Ideas. Insights. Sustainable Solutions. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://www.eesi.org/ 

Waste heat utilization of data centers based on heat pump. (n.d.). ScienceDirect.com. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ 

Government to subsidize pipeline

 Rachel Doran, president and executive director of Clean Energy Canada, a think tank at Simon Fraser University, asks in an article in the Globe and Mail: “Is it really a good idea for the government to subsidize a pipeline?”

Decreasing Investment in Fossil Fuel in 2026

But while the share of private energy investment going into fossil fuels has slumped from 50 per cent to 28 per cent over the past decade, fossil fuels now receive about as much money from taxpayers through subsidies as they do from private investors, keeping their costs artificially lower.

Yes, oil is our biggest export, but its contribution to Canada’s GDP combined with gas was 3.8 per cent in 2025. All told, 56,000 Canadians worked directly in oil and gas extraction in 2025, compared with 108,000 in electric power generation, transmission and distribution, according to Statistics Canada. (Doran & Keller, 2026)

When the Government finances economic development there seem to be many mouths to feed. The trade-offs in seeking political support and voters before the next election call may sometimes fall into the category of “short term gain for long term pain”.

References

Doran, R., & Keller, T. (2026, October 1). Opinion: Is it really a good idea for the government to subsidize a pipeline? The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 3, 2026, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-is-it-a-good-idea-to-subsidize-the-west-coast-pipeline/? 

Gary turns 73

 Gary turns 73

Happy Birthday, Gary! My “key” message is (say it with me!) “dah dah dit dit dit dit dit dit dah dah” because it is so rhythmic (Morse Code for “73”) it is HAM Radio shorthand for "best regards".

Lower Cost Living

Lower Cost Living

How can we plan and build communities where energy is available at a lower cost?

Site for Lower Cost Energy Trial

The Bedford Sackville Connector Greenway Trail is one of many opportunities in HRM to take a walk for exercise or, in my case, to activate the link between moving, breathing, and my imagination. Along the trail, I look across the interchange in Lower Sackville between the 101 Highway and the 102 Highway to a newer housing development with many square meters of roof top suitable for solar panels.

Across the 101 and 102 Highway newer housing development

As I continue along the trail to the baseball fields, I realize the housing development is at a higher elevation than the ball field and the Sackville River. This is an opportunity to use the surplus electricity generated by solar panels on the roof of these houses, on the roof of the DND Bedford Rifle Range, on the roof of the Nova Scotia DOT facility and perhaps in the future after the necessary and planned redesign of the 101/102 interchange over the new bridges and the ramps.

The work of my son to use solar panels on the roof of his travel trailer to provide electrical power for lighting and heat pump heating and cooling, with some on board battery storage, and some excess capacity in his 3Kwatt design has encouraged my exploration of starting by building extra capacity at the dwelling level in solar arrays, after supporting heating and cooling to store in area batteries or to pump local water to storage for use in hydro generation to maintain the community battery capacity.

Net Positive Travel Trailer

Look around. Are you able to identify similar opportunities in the geography around you to use roof mounted solar, community battery storage, and nearby pumped water storage to reduce your heating and cooling costs and charge your EV?

Oils Well that Ends

 An article in the Economist Business section: “On shifting oil sands” asks: Canada’s oil industry is booming. Can it last?

Looser regulations will help with pipelines—but may not boost production

Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, is intent on promoting a speedier process that will apply to a new pipeline under development to British Columbia. Lisa Baiton of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, an industry group, has spoken of a “generational opportunity” to rally political and public support behind new oil projects.

Enbridge, an energy-infrastructure firm, has paused construction of a pipeline to the east, citing a lack of commitments by producers to provide enough oil to make it worthwhile.

The unique challenges of the oil sands provide an explanation. Investment in new sites has been virtually non-existent since the oil price crashed in 2014 as demand weakened while America’s shale oil gushed and opec opened the taps. “It cannot be overstated how much that changed the industry,” says Kent Fellows of the University of Calgary. Moreover, projects in the oil sands take far longer to develop than conventional wells. They require enormous amounts of capital that could be tied up for five to ten years before profits flow. Uncertainty over the future price of oil—and the danger that a change of government might lead to the reinstatement of tighter regulations—make for risky bets. (Canada's Oil Industry Is Booming. Can It Last?, n.d.)

References

Canada's oil industry is booming. Can it last? (n.d.). The Economist. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://www.economist.com/business/2026/08/20/canadas-oil-industry-is-booming-can-it-last? 

POINT OF NO RETURN

  POINT OF NO RETURN: A STORY ABOUT LOVE, MURDER AND FORGIVENESS

What is your connection to the Island of Newfoundland?

Beyond the Fence

Family, Friends, Hometown, Ferry and Train Travel, Breathtaking Landscape, Unique Culture and more… POINT OF NO RETURN: A STORY ABOUT LOVE, MURDER AND FORGIVENESS is Jerry Rideout’s recent tale of life, love, faith, migration, survival, conflict and murder is brought to life through detailed and descriptive writing about the people, places, and rugged reality of the characters and land in which their stories are told. A compelling story and descriptions of Newfoundland that resonate with my visits to the island and the rugged landscape and unique people... Excellent work!

Not the Lobster Mark

 One of the most moving experiences this Boomer can recall from the time I have spent near Wreck Cove on the Atlantic Coast of Cape Breton is the disc of the rising sun spreading light on the ocean and revealing tens of small crafts of lobster fishers that have been “hauling traps” with the day’s harvest of lobster for hours before dawn.

The recent movie “Little Lorraine” reveals some of the danger and economic returns of this fishery that Atlantic Canada has shared with Maine since my grandfather’s time when the status of this particular catch moved from “poor peoples” food to a high end, high value, offering of the best restaurants.

Fifty years ago my first job, in my novice time as an electrical engineer, was with NB Tel in Saint John, about an hour away from the US border at St Stephen/Calais where you could work in St. Stephen and show your driver’s licence to US Customs and have lunch in Calais.

At that time, the Cable TV from the United States, that NB Tel carried on the microwave network, originated in Bangor. The audience in Maritime Canada came to understand our human connection to Maine as another phase of a much longer relationship of cooperation and competition with New England. The bottom line of my appeal is this: The economic damage to Maine, and perhaps lobster processing in New Brunswick threatens to be great.

The political gain of pinching Trump in an electoral cycle threatening the reelection of Maine US Senator Susan Collins is likely to be at the cost of hardworking American cousins with whom we share life on the Atlantic that can be challenging.

In many ways this tariff will devalue Canadian policy toward neighbours in the same way that Trump has devalued the relationship of the Presidency with Canada as merely a financial transaction.