If it was that big a deal, they would channel the waste heat to useful purposes such as heating nearby homes for free. The marketing benefits are obvious.
That'd be great. The Volts podcast just had an episode about district heating. Data centers were among the list of readily available heat sources. Also reduces the data center's cooling costs. Win/win.
What's the deal with district energy? [2023-10-07] https://www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-deal-with-district-energy
TIL: There's already 1,000s (?) of heating & cooling districts in North America. The number of buildings added is increasing 5% annually.
https://www.districtenergy.org/home