As temperatures rise, so do electricity bills. In two coastal states, buildings that are heated and cooled by renewable and recycled energy systems could lower tenant electricity bills significantly.
Such buildings and communities are popping up all over the country in areas where geothermal and solar energy is readily available. Others could be connected to AI data centers, recycling the electrons initially used to power computer systems.
Florida: In the Sunshine State, tenants in Orlando are getting heating and cooling from above and below. Novo Avian Pointe, a development from Taurus Investment Holdings with 276 rental units, is positioned above the Floridan aquifer system. EcoSmart Solution, a green energy services provider, designed a geothermal heating system that uses water from the aquifer to heat and cool the development, which opened in June. It also houses solar panels on its roofs to soak up the Florida sun.
EcoSmart Solution CEO Chris Gray told Tech Brew that the company drilled wells into the aquifer, which pull water above ground. Then, the water goes into heat exchangers and back into the aquifer.
“So we’re not using any of the water. We’re not disturbing the balance of that aquifer,” Gray said. “We’re just simply doing heat exchange.”
And that heat exchange significantly reduces energy costs for residents. In October, Novo Avian Point tenants consumed approximately 55 MW per hour of energy, compared to the nearly 120 MW per hour average apartment buildings in the US consume. Gray told Tech Brew tenants are seeing energy savings of more than 50%.
In addition to savings on monthly bills, Gray said Novo Avian Pointe is more resilient against extreme weather conditions because it doesn’t have outdoor HVAC equipment, which can be destroyed by hurricanes.
“There’s greater longevity of the product,” Gray said.
California: And some tenants on the West Coast could also see lower electricity costs, not thanks to an aquifer but from an AI data center. Last month, developer Westbank announced plans to build 4,000 residential units in San Jose powered by electricity used by AI data centers, with electric infrastructure built by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E).
Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business
Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.
San Jose is in Silicon Valley, the third largest market for data centers in the country. Westbank’s VP of US development, Andrew Jacobson, told Tech Brew that the company was looking to provide a solution for how environmentally costly data centers are.
“Data centers themselves are really seen as kind of destructive from an environmental standpoint,” Jacobson told Tech Brew. “[We want to] create a solution that’s a benefit for the community.”
The future development will offset the electricity used by the data centers by recycling the electrons that power them. First, electrons will fuel computing at future tenants like Plug and Play, a technology investment firm that will establish an “AI Center of Excellence” at the Westbank development. Then, the electrons used by the data centers will be converted into thermal energy to heat the residential units.
This process means that tenants will only pay for electricity use unrelated to heating and cooling—which tends to use the most energy—meaning their energy bills will be lower.
Westbank isn’t just proposing the development as a solution to the environmental impact of data centers—it’s also hoping to ameliorate San Jose’s affordable housing crisis. The development will include supportive and affordable housing alongside market-rate units, which has won the favor of the city’s mayor, Matt Mahan.
“San Jose is no stranger to innovation that changes the world,” Mahan said in a statement. “We are a laboratory for the future—and in our city, that future is net zero. This project proposed by Westbank and PG&E has the potential to change the way that our cities are built, developed and powered for the better.”