Instead of traditional heating, a British household relies on an alternative heating method. This reduces their heating costs to a minimum. The 56 mini-PCs not only provide heat but also serve another purpose.
How does the couple heat their home? The British news site BBC reports on the Thermify project by UK Power Networks, which intends to provide low-income households with alternative heating methods. For this purpose, 56 hobby computers, known as Raspberry Pis, were installed as a data center in the couple’s garden shed. The waste heat from the computers is then reused as heating warmth.
The waste heat from the mini-computers is transported using oil. It directs the waste heat through a piping system into the couple’s house. The waste heat is not only used for heating but also, among other things, for hot water.
This way, the British couple saves about 335 British pounds per month on heating costs. This corresponds to approximately 380 euros (as of November 19, 2025). How you can save electricity costs with a mini-PC instead of heating costs is explained by colleague Benedikt Schlotmann.
The popular single-board computer Raspberry Pi
What is a Raspberry Pi? A Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer roughly the size of a credit card, primarily used in the IT sector for various programming purposes. It can also serve, for example, as the center of a smart home or be used as a teaching computer.
Its popularity comes from its low price and user-friendly operation. As a PC, the single board has almost all the functions of a standard office PC. Raspberry systems are also flexible, as their missing functions can be added with expansion modules, though this requires some technical skills.
A Raspberry Pi comes in various versions and shapes, from small/tiny models like the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 to a complete desktop package with the Raspberry Pi 500+.
The prices for the board range from under 10 euros to 200 euros and more, depending on model and specifications. You can find them on their own website.
Future plans with the Raspberry Pi
Are there any further or similar projects? SHIELD, the parent company of Thermify, plans to expand the project and utilize the Raspberry clusters as a larger data center. Although they state that they cannot handle large AI tasks there, using them as an app hub or for data analysis is also being considered.
Another example of heating through PC structures is Green Hub, also a British company, which heats swimming pools with their computers. They are submerged in mineral oil. The oil cools the computers/boards while simultaneously transferring heat through heat exchangers into the pool. This is expected to save nearly 60 percent in heating costs compared to a conventional heating system. The reason one user had to use their PC for heating is unusual: Gamer buys PC for $4,000, can no longer afford heating – now heats by playing Red Dead Redemption 2
