This Couple Cut Their Energy Bill Over Half Using Raspberry Pi To Heat Up Their Home

The Raspberry Pi has evolved a significant amount since its inception, and it's proved to be useful for a wide range of applications. It can be used to build all kinds of small electronic devices, it's useful for devising unique smart home systems, and thanks to one startup, it can now also be used to heat homes during the winter months.

A report by the BBC highlighted how effective a cluster of Raspberry Pi computers can be as a home heater, noting that it cut an English couple's home heating bill from £375 (around $497) per month down to £40 (roughly $53). The heating system, called HeatHub, was devised by a startup called Thermify. Each HeatHub comprises around 500 Raspberry Pi devices configured into a mini data center, which can be used by the startup for remote data processing.

According to the report, Thermify plans to expand its network in the near future, with the intention that clients needing data processing power will eventually pay to use its data centers. However, at the moment, the pilot is in its early stages, with only one HeatHub currently installed in a home.

Although it's a very limited scheme for now, the initial results look promising. The tenant couple's initial claimed monthly bill of £375 is far above the U.K. average energy bill of £146 (around $194) per month, suggesting that many homes could see their monthly bill drop to even lower than £40 with a Raspberry Pi heating system installed.

In recent years, the demand for computing power has reached unprecedented levels, primarily thanks to the AI industry. While Thermify's HeatHubs aren't powerful enough to run AI models, they can be used for less intensive workloads, such as running apps or conducting large-scale data analysis. Demand from the AI industry is making PC parts painfully expensive, but finding innovative ways to use the byproducts of data processing — such as heating homes with HeatHub — could help offset some of that initial cost.

Neither the HeatHub nor any similar scheme is available in the U.S. at present, but there are still plenty of ways to help keep your energy bills in check over the winter months. By heating your home to the optimum temperature and using a smart thermostat to set up a heating schedule based on the hours you're in the house, you can still save money. Alternatively, installing a bill-reducing product like a radiator reflector could also help make your home's heating system more efficient.