this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2023
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I've heard people proposing a "computational electric heater" in the past where it's just a really powerful computer that can do citizen science processing (or presumably whatever you want on it). I suppose the only issue is cost of sufficiently powerful processors that generate enough heat to actually work as a heater, as well as the thermal regulation system since semiconductors are way more temperature sensitive than a coil of resistive wire, shorter lifespan too I imagine. Though if we can overcome these issues that would be a massive technological milestone.
It would be a really good use of old computers instead of throwing them out though, could use them as space heaters in a place where you don't mind the noise and/or find a way to dampen the noise while allowing the heat to come through.
Come to think of it, I actually don't know what the compute footprint of an average first-world person is. If we moved all the racks into people's houses (in a sound-proof enclosure or something) would that be enough?