As cloud computing evolves, the need for larger data centers also grows, consequently raising the issue for more efficient cooling solutions. A city power firm in Finland is reportedly looking to unveil what it thinks will be the greenest data center on the planet, as the company plans to use the excess heat from hundreds of computer systems to warm homes in the Finish capital, Helsinki. The cloud computing solution could be used by other companies, looking to increase the efficiency of their growing data centers.

According to a recent news-report by Reuters, Helsingin Energia is looking to unveil a new data center for local information technology services firm Academica, that will be cooled through a system that will channel the excess heat into the district heating network, consequently warming a number of homes in the Finish capital.

"It is perfectly feasible that a quite considerable proportion of the heating in the capital city could be produced from thermal energy generated by computer halls," said Juha Sipila, project manager at Helsingin Energia, according to the aforementioned source.

The data center is expected to go online sometime in January and will provide enough heat to warm about 500 large private houses. In addition, the new computer, located in a massive cave beneath the orthodox Christian Uspenski Cathedral, will use only half the energy of a typical datacenter, according to Sipila. Another plus for the datacenter beneath the cathedral is that it is built inside a former bomb shelter carved into the rock by the fire brigade in World War II.

According to recent studies, data centers, such as those used by Google, are accountable for about 1 percent of the world's energy, with their demand continuously increasing in pace with a trend to outsource computing. The cooling solution adopted by Helsingin Energia might be approached by other companies as well, in attempt to cut their energy bill.