Heat your house for free by storing this cloud company's servers

Winter is rapidly approaching, and with it the bills for heating your home will be quickly rising as well. If only there were some way to store some kind of object that puts out a lot of heat, and yet belongs to someone else... Well, if you have room for a cabinet of cloud servers in your house, Germany's Cloud&Heat can help you do just that!

On paper, it truly sounds like the perfect arrangement for both sides. As a cloud infrastructure company, Cloud&Heat relies on servers which are known to generate a lot of heat, and cost money to keep in cool places. So, why not put these servers in location that needs to be warmed in the first place? Like your home or office. If you agree to store the equipment, Cloud&Heat will pay the heating costs and give you internet service.

It's not completely cost-free, as customers must have to have the fire-proof server cabinet installed, but Cloud&Heat says it's about the same as what you'd pay to install a standard home heating system, however an exact price isn't provided. The system is highly intelligent as well, so if heat is being generated while no one is home, for example, hot water can be stored in a "buffering tank." Similarly, when spring and summer roll around, the cabinets can vent the heat outside.

Customers of Cloud&Heat's cloud services need not worry about security, for while your data could be sitting in a stranger's living room, the company says everything is encrypted and only employees are able to open the server cabinets. Sounds like a great way to be productive with energy, and one that could be really cost-effective for homeowners.

VIA Engadget

SOURCE Slate