Data center heated greenhouses, a matter for enhanced food self-sufficiency in sub-arctic regions
2021 (English)In: Energy, ISSN 0360-5442, E-ISSN 1873-6785, Vol. 215, no Part B, article id 119169Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
This paper examines the possibility of increasing Northern Sweden’s degree of self-sufficiency in food supply, at the 65th latitude, by using a data center as a heating source for greenhouse production. A dynamic building energy simulation software was used to compute both the hourly exhaust air output from a 1 MW data center for one year and the corresponding heating demand for two different greenhouse sizes, 2000 m2 and 10 000 m2, and two different production scenarios. Partial year production, 1 Mars â 15 October, without grow lights and full-year production with grow lights. The study showed that 5.5â30.5% of the electrical input to a 1 MW data center could be recovered. The 2000 m2 greenhouse could operate almost entirely, 89.7â97.9%, on excess heat while only 50.0â61.5% of the 10 000 m2 greenhouse heating demand could be met for full- and partial-year production, respectively. Furthermore, it is concluded that the 10 000 m2 greenhouse with full year production was the most prominent case and would cost-effectively yield 7.6% of northern Sweden’s vegetable self-sufficiency. © 2020 The Authors
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2021. Vol. 215, no Part B, article id 119169
Keywords [en]
Computer software, Food supply, Greenhouses, Building energy simulations, Data centers, Electrical inputs, Greenhouse heating, Greenhouse production, Heating demand, Heating source, Northern sweden, Thermal processing (foods), arctic environment, food consumption, greenhouse gas, self sufficiency, simulation, software, vegetable, Sweden
National Category
Energy Engineering
Research subject
Energy Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-81448DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.119169ISI: 000596834000006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85095423203OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-81448DiVA, id: diva2:1502099
Note
Validerad;2020;Nivå 2;2020-11-19 (johcin)
2020-11-192020-11-192024-03-27Bibliographically approved