Sun, 16 Nov 2025

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 Data centre in the shed reduces energy bills to £40

"It's fantastic because it's eco-friendly...We're not burning any gases," says Terrence Bridges.

* An Essex couple, Terrence and Lesley Bridges, have become the first people in the UK to trial a scheme where they heat their home using a data centre in their garden shed.
* The HeatHub system uses over 500 computers to process data, generating heat that is captured and transferred into the hot water system of their bungalow.
* Their energy bills have dropped dramatically from £375 to as low as £40 per month since making the switch.
* The project is part of UK Power Networks' SHIELD initiative, which aims to find innovative ways for low-income households to transition to net zero energy consumption.
* Thermify's HeatHub system will eventually be part of a "remote and distributed" data centre, involving many units processing data for customers.
* The company behind the scheme hopes to roll out the technology to 50 homes in the future.
* Data centres are becoming increasingly important for generating electricity, but they also consume around 2.5% of the UK's energy supply and may need to be cooled using chemicals or other methods.
* A swimming pool in Devon is being warmed by a "digital boiler" which uses heat generated by data processing, and there are plans to build a combined solar-powered data centre and district heat network in south Cambridgeshire.
  >>