As gas heating becomes more and more expensive, the UK is testing an unusual idea: 500 Raspberry Pi units are to heat an apartment

Heating bills are going up everywhere, and residents of the United Kingdom are also struggling with increasing costs. On the islands, they've come up with a cool alternative to gas heating, which is getting more and more expensive. Instead of that, the locals are getting a small data center with Raspberry Pi computers, and the heat they produce is used to warm up homes.

500 Raspberry Pi heat one home

UK Power Networks, which manages part of England's electricity network, teamed up with a private company, Thermify, to create a program called SHIELD (Smart Heat and Intelligent Energy in Low-income Districts). As reported by The Register, this has led to the creation of an unusual heating solution for homes. Most of the residents are getting solar panels with batteries, but about a third of them are in for something completely different.

Thermify sets up small data centers in homes using 500 Raspberry Pi CM4 or CM5 computers, submerged in oil. The heat that's produced gets sent to the home's heating system, keeping the place cozy and making sure there's hot water. The device is set up as a replacement for the existing gas boiler.

Moreover, to keep from hogging the household's internet, each Raspberry Pi cluster from Thermify has its own separate connection. This solution is used by both household members and companies, utilizing the computing power of the data center. The method is supposed to work in real life, and it actually helped cut heating bills by about 40%.

Apparently, this isn't the first time something like this has been done. In the UK, at least two other companies are offering similar ways to heat homes or even public places like swimming pools. Perhaps in the future, computational units for artificial intelligence, with networks that are continuously expanding, will appear in homes.

• tech
• Raspberry Pi