An Essex couple have become the first in the UK to heat their home using a data centre installed in their garden shed. Terrence and Lesley Bridges have reported a dramatic drop in energy bills, from £375 a month to as low as £40, after replacing their gas boiler with a HeatHub, a compact data centre containing more than 500 computers.
Data centres are essentially banks of computers that carry out digital tasks. As they process data, they generate significant heat. In the Bridges’ system, this heat is captured by oil and transferred into their hot water system. Mr Bridges, 76, explained the importance of reliable heating, saying it was necessary to keep their two-bed bungalow warm as his wife suffers from spinal stenosis and experiences “a lot of pain” in the cold.
“It truly is brilliant,” he said. “I’m over the moon that we got picked to trial this out. You can’t fault the heating system – it is a 100% improvement on what we had before.” His wife, Lesley, 75, added: “You don’t need to go to a sauna after coming here.”
The HeatHub was developed by Thermify as part of UK Power Networks’ SHIELD project, which explores innovative ways for low-income households to transition to net zero. Through the programme, the Bridges also received solar panels and a battery system, contributing further to their savings.
Despite turning the heating up to keep the house comfortable, Mr Bridges said their monthly bills were now “between £40 and £60 each month”. He described the system as “fantastic because it’s eco-friendly… we’re not burning any gases, so it’s green – it’s environmentally friendly.”
Thermify CEO Travis Theune explained that the Bridges’ HeatHub could eventually form part of a “remote and distributed” network of data centres, processing client data while simultaneously providing heat. He said: “The system provides clean, green heat at a low-to-no price point because the electricity that’s generating that heat is paid for by somebody else.”
Eastlight Community Homes, the Bridges’ landlord and a social housing provider, is also involved in SHIELD. Daniel Greenwood, their head of asset management, said: “We’ve seen great results for the current installation, and although this is the first of its kind, we’re looking to roll that out more broadly.” The next phase could see 50 homes fitted with HeatHubs.
Meanwhile, Mike Richardson, founder of DSM, is using an artificial lake and solar panels to cool a small data centre near Peterborough. Warm water from the servers is pumped into the lake and cooled before returning inside in a closed loop. “Keeping away from chemicals is an important thing for us,” he said, noting that the system uses less electricity for cooling compared with traditional setups.
As more UK homes and facilities explore innovative uses of data centre heat, experts say water-based systems are highly efficient for transferring heat. From garden sheds to artificial lakes, these initiatives could play a key role in reducing household energy costs while supporting a greener future.
