UK couple slashes their heating bill by nearly 90% with Raspberry Pi ‘micro data center’ as net-zero trial turns server heat into home heating
A couple in Essex has become the first household in the UK to heat an entire home using a mini data center running in a backyard shed. The data center installation is called HeatHub. It is built by clean-tech company Thermify as part of the SHIELD project led by UK Power Networks.
Usually, data centers use Nvidia GPUs, which are found to consume more energy. However, this system is built differently. It uses clusters of low-power Raspberry Pi boards arranged into a small distributed compute node.
A data center that pays for its heat
The couple, Terrence and Lesley Bridges, have 56 Raspberry Pi modules in their HeatHub. Each module does simple computing tasks such as app hosting or data processing. Once the UK Power Networks conclude this pilot phase, enterprise clients will pay Thermify to process workloads on these distributed nodes.
All server heat is then captured and redirected into the home's hot-water system, effectively turning it into heating. As a result, their monthly bill dropped drastically from $492 (£375) to just $52 (£40).
Not a DIY solution
While the concept might inspire tech-savvy homeowners, experts warn that building a home data center heater is impractical and unsafe. The HeatHub trial uses professionally engineered heat exchangers, controlled ventilation, load-balanced wiring, and remote server management.
If a homeowner tries to replicate this, they would have to pay the electricity bill for high-load machines, which would likely cost far more than the heat produced.
There are also electrical load limits to consider. UK homes typically have a 60–100 A main fuse, while even a small rack of servers can easily exceed safe continuous draw without industrial-grade wiring.
Growing trend
This is not the first time data-center heat has been reused. In 2023, a micro data center the size of a washing machine helped warm a public swimming pool in the UK. However, the HeatHub is the first trial to use the concept inside low-income homes.
If it succeeds, distributed micro data centers could become an unexpected part of the UK’s path to net-zero, turning computation into a household utility.
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