I recall current data center electricity consumption to be 2-3% of total electrical use. So at this scale, these are ultimately PR moves/engineering experiments that don't actually save money as a whole.
However, with LLMs coming, I could see data center energy usage jump 10x over the next decade. At that point, re-using data center heat will be be a real industry with real profits.
Imagine data center heated apartment heating, vertical farms.
I don't know how hotter regions are going to cope with the heat though. These AI datacenters could end up being entirely concentrated in the coldest regions.
However, with LLMs coming, I could see data center energy usage jump 10x over the next decade. At that point, re-using data center heat will be be a real industry with real profits. Imagine data center heated apartment heating, vertical farms.
I don't know how hotter regions are going to cope with the heat though. These AI datacenters could end up being entirely concentrated in the coldest regions.