A ‘solar bump’ could help data centers recover wasted energy

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By Hannah Richter, Science. 

Excerpt: Every time people ask ChatGPT for help, their request percolates through a whirring farm of computers kept cool inside a windowless warehouse. These facilities, known as data centers, gobbled up more than 4% of U.S. electricity in 2023. ...researchers reported online earlier this month in Solar Energy that they had come up with a clever efficiency boost. By using the Sun’s warmth to raise the temperature of vented waste heat, data center operators can generate a significant fraction of the electricity they need while recycling some power.... 

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