By bizn_fun 
An Essex couple have become the first people in the country to trial a scheme that sees them heat their home using a data centre in their garden shed.
Terrence and Lesley Bridges have seen their energy bills drop dramatically, from £375 a month down to as low as £40, since they swapped their gas boiler for a HeatHub – a small data centre containing more than 500 computers.
Data centres are banks of computers which carry out digital tasks. As the computers process data, they generate lots of heat, which is captured by oil and then transferred into the Bridges’ hot water system.
Mr Bridges, 76, says keeping his two-bed bungalow near Braintree warm was a necessity as his wife has spinal stenosis and is in “a lot of pain” when it gets colder.
“It truly is brilliant,” Mr Bridges continues. “I’m over the moon that we got picked to trial this out. You can’t fault the heating system – it is a 100% improvement on what we had before.”
“You don’t need to go to a sauna after coming here,” Mrs Bridges, 75, adds.
The HeatHub was developed by Thermify and is part of UK Power Networks’ SHIELD project, external, which aims to come up with innovative ways for low-income households to transition to net zero.
Through SHIELD, the Bridges also had solar panels and a battery put in, which have contributed to their savings.