EcoDataCenter is collaborating with circular industry organisation WA3RM on a project to re-use waste heat from new data centres for food production in Sweden.

The project aims to create new sustainability standards for data centres, promoting circular solutions.

According to EcoDataCenter, the project will focus its efforts on large-scale cultivation, to help bolster Sweden’s self-sufficiency in food – with a circular system for vegetable and fish farming on an industrial scale already in the works.

WA3RM and EcoDataCenter are aiming to launch their first joint project shortly.

“To digitise society sustainably, we need to rethink how we build data centres so that the surplus heat produced can be used efficiently in circular systems. In WA3RM, we have found a partner that shares our view on sustainability and entrepreneurship and that can also meet our growth ambitions,” said Dan Andersson, CEO of EcoDataCenter.

“We want to make the waste stream as impactful as possible, and through this collaboration, we will take a massive step towards that. It is of the utmost importance to also industrialise circular processes on a larger scale rather than only implementing smaller circular systems because of the symbolic value.”

“Data centres are generally an under-utilised resource with fantastic potential for bio-based systems like ours, which in Sweden require a lot of heat input and therefore draw much energy as stand-alone operations. Through our collaboration, we can also take significant and essential steps towards making Sweden self-sufficient in several food products,” added Thomas Parker, CEO of WA3RM, says.