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Data centers can help heat homes by sending the heat removed from their servers to a nearby district-heating network. Large heat pumps raise that heat to a useful temperature, and insulated pipes carry hot water to connected buildings. It is not a direct pipe from a server rack to a house: the system depends on heat pumps, electricity, a suitable network, and enough nearby demand.
Why data centers produce heat—and why it can be useful
Servers use electricity to process, store, and transmit data. Much of that electricity ultimately becomes heat, which cooling equipment must remove to keep the IT equipment operating. If that heat is not recovered, it is commonly released into the air or surrounding water, according to utility Fortum.
That steady stream of heat can serve as a source for a heating system. But server heat is not automatically hot enough, at the right temperature, or in the right place to heat a home directly. The practical opportunity is to capture it and use equipment to transfer and upgrade it before it enters a district-heating network.
How data-center heat reaches homes
- Cooling removes heat from the servers. Data-center cooling equipment collects heat as it keeps operating IT systems within their required conditions. The heat is a by-product of the facility’s electricity use.
- A nearby recovery plant connects the source to a heat network. A connection is most practical when the data center is close enough to a district-heating network. In its description of the Espoo project, the City of Espoo notes that the chosen location is near the network.
- Large heat pumps raise the heat to a useful level. A heat pump transfers heat from a source into the district-heating system. In this setting, it upgrades recovered heat so it can be used at a temperature suitable for the network. The process requires electricity; the recovered heat is not a source of energy that can be delivered without power or infrastructure.
- Hot water carries heat through district-heating pipes. Fortum describes district heating as heated water moving through underground pipes. Buildings connected to the network use the supplied heat for space heating and household hot water.
- Storage and other heat sources help match supply to demand. Heat demand changes over time, while data-center heat may be available steadily. Thermal storage can hold heat for later use, and other equipment can contribute heat when needed. In Espoo, the wider system includes both thermal storage and electric boilers.
The essential link is the heat network: it brings heat from a large, local source to multiple connected buildings. Without a compatible network, this particular way of distributing recovered heat is not available unless a network is built.
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What has happened in Espoo, Finland?
The Espoo project is a partnership involving the City of Espoo, Fortum, and Microsoft. Microsoft operates the data-center facilities; Fortum is responsible for recovering and transferring excess heat into the district-heating system. The municipal project description presents the intended recipients as homes, services, and businesses.
Separate the plant launch from the data-center heat milestone
As of 13 October 2026, the important distinction is that the heat-pump plants had started operating, but the planned use of Microsoft’s data-center heat had not yet begun. Fortum reported on 6 May 2026 that its large heat-pump plants at Hepokorpi in Espoo and Kolabacken in Kirkkonummi were operating with ambient air as a heat source, alongside electric boilers. Fortum said data-center waste heat would be phased in starting in 2027 as data-center phases were completed. A commissioned heat plant is therefore not, by itself, proof that the full data-center recovery system is already supplying heat.
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What the project’s figures mean
| Figure | What it describes | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Around 40% of regional yearly district-heating demand | Fortum’s expected contribution once data-center heat recovery is fully implemented. | Fortum’s 2026 estimate; the region’s annual district-heating demand is about 2 terawatt-hours, serving approximately 250,000 heat users. This is a future full-implementation estimate, not a share already supplied by data-center heat. |
| About 75% of data-center waste heat annually | The share Fortum expects could be used for district heating. | A forecast in Fortum’s 2025-era project explainer, not a measured operating result. Fortum cites lower summer heating demand as a reason not all available heat would be used. |
| Up to 180 megawatts from 72 water-to-water heat pumps | The specified district-heat output of the project’s water-to-water heat pumps. | Fortum’s 2026 plant specification. It is a capacity figure, not a report of how much data-center heat had already been recovered. |
| 40 air-to-water heat pumps; 200 megawatts of electric boilers; 20,000 cubic metres of thermal storage | Supporting components of the wider system. | Fortum’s 2026 specifications. These figures describe system equipment and storage, not data-center heat already delivered. |
| About 400,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions saved per year | Fortum’s estimate of potential annual savings at full capacity. | A company estimate from 2023, not a verified achieved annual saving. The outcome depends on which heat sources are displaced and the project reaching full operation. |
These figures describe different things: expected heat use, rated plant capacity, supporting equipment, and estimated emissions savings. They should not be read as evidence that all planned heat recovery or annual savings had already been achieved by the plants’ May 2026 launch.
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What determines whether a project can work?
Distance to a suitable network
The data center needs to be close enough to a district-heating network for the connection and associated infrastructure to make sense. The City of Espoo specifically identifies proximity to the network as a reason for the site choice. A steady heat source is less useful to homes if there is no practical way to transport that heat to them.
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Heat-pump electricity and temperature lift
Heat pumps are needed to transfer and upgrade the recovered heat for the district-heating system. That takes electricity, so a project’s performance and emissions implications depend partly on the power it uses as well as the heat it recovers. Fortum’s project descriptions emphasize reliable, preferably fossil-free electricity. Heat recovery can make use of energy that would otherwise be rejected, but it does not eliminate the electricity input required by the pumps and network.
Seasonal demand and storage
Buildings generally need less heat in summer, even if a data center continues to produce heat. Fortum’s estimate that about 75% of available data-center waste heat could be used annually applies to its project explanation; it is not a universal utilization rate for all data centers or heat networks. Storage can help shift heat across periods, but the Espoo figures should be understood as the design of that particular system, not a guarantee that every network can absorb the same share.
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Scale of local demand and backup supply
A network serving many nearby buildings can make a large, steady source more useful. Demand also varies, so the heat system may need storage and other sources to meet changing requirements. Espoo’s mix includes electric boilers and ambient-air heat pumps as supporting equipment. Their presence helps explain why a waste-heat project is a system of sources and infrastructure rather than a one-way connection from servers to radiators.
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What heat source would be displaced?
Potential emissions savings depend on the heat that recovered energy replaces. Fortum’s 2023 estimate of about 400,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent savings annually is tied to full capacity and is not an independently verified result. A project’s actual emissions effect cannot be inferred from the amount of heat alone without knowing what would otherwise have supplied that heat and the electricity used by the recovery system.
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How to assess claims about data-center heat
When comparing projects, ask what is being measured and whether the system is operating at the milestone implied by the claim. The following questions help distinguish a plant specification or forecast from delivered heat and achieved savings:
- How far is the data center from the district-heating network, and what connection infrastructure is required?
- What is known about the data-center heat’s availability and temperature, and how does that match local heat demand?
- What heat-pump equipment is planned, what electricity does it need, and what is the electricity source?
- How well does annual heat availability match demand, especially during summer?
- Does the system include thermal storage or backup heat sources, and what role does each play?
- Which heat source is expected to be displaced, and are emissions figures forecasts or measured operating results?
There is no standardized multi-project comparison dataset established for these factors in the cited project descriptions. They are useful questions for examining a specific project, but they do not support a universal ranking or a claim that all data centers reuse their heat.
Does policy require data centers to heat homes?
The European Commission’s heating-and-cooling policy overview discusses EU policy work related to district heating and cooling, waste-heat recovery, and planning. That policy context is not evidence that every data center has a legal obligation to send heat to homes. Requirements can depend on the applicable law and its national implementation, so a legal claim needs to be checked against the relevant jurisdiction and current rules.
Quick Recap
What to remember about data-center heat reuse
- Server heat can become useful heat for buildings when it is captured, upgraded with heat pumps, and connected to a district-heating network.
- Networks, nearby demand, electrical input, storage, and other heat sources all shape how much recovered heat can be delivered.
- In Espoo, the plants were operating in May 2026 using ambient air and electric boilers; Fortum planned to phase in data-center heat from 2027 as facilities were completed.
- Project capacity, forecasts for future heat use, and estimated emissions savings are different from measured heat delivery and verified savings.
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