In line with the United Kingdom's commitment to lowering its national carbon footprint and advancing towards a cleaner energy supply, UK Power Networks is championing an innovative initiative known as the HeatHub project. Developed through a partnership with the startup Thermify, this scheme proposes replacing conventional household furnaces or boilers with compact computing devices. These units are specifically engineered to generate heat as a necessary byproduct of processing data for various cloud services.
The pilot phase of this ambitious undertaking, officially titled SHIELD (Smart Heat and Intelligent Energy in Low-income Districts), commenced in October 2025. This initial rollout encompassed 300 homes situated across East and Southeast England. The HeatHub devices themselves are similar in size to a standard heat pump. They function as networked clusters, housing approximately 500 modules, specifically Raspberry Pi CM4 and/or CM5 units. This phase is crucial for gathering operational data needed to effectively scale the wider SHIELD program, which is managed by UK Power Networks. The ultimate objective is to deploy up to 100,000 such systems every year nationwide by the target date of 2030.
A primary goal of the HeatHub system is to slash heating expenses and the associated carbon emissions for vulnerable, low-income populations. Participants in the trial pay a fixed monthly fee of just £5.60 (which equates to approximately $7.52 USD), with no additional cost per kilowatt-hour consumed. This structure is projected to deliver substantial savings on overall heating bills, potentially ranging from 20% to 40%. Thermify, the company established in 2021, generates revenue by monetizing the computational power produced by these units through cloud computing contracts, effectively turning the heat source into a revenue stream while simultaneously replacing reliance on gas boilers.
This methodology showcases a profound integration between essential domestic needs and IT infrastructure. Traditional data centers expend significant energy solely on dissipating excess heat into the atmosphere. In sharp contrast, the HeatHub system utilizes this energy twice: first for computation, and second for providing residents with affordable and environmentally friendlier heating. This dual-purpose design represents a significant leap forward in energy efficiency. The technologies employed within the SHIELD project are expected to drastically cut the carbon emissions for the participating households, achieving a reduction exceeding 90%.
Alongside the SHIELD initiative, UK Power Networks is pursuing other critical decarbonization projects. One notable example is the HeatScape project, which launched in April 2025. HeatScape is focused on analyzing the impact of widespread heating electrification on the existing energy grid infrastructure. It achieves this by mapping current heat networks and forecasting how they will interact with the electricity network in the future. These coordinated steps underscore UK Power Networks' comprehensive, systemic approach to supporting the United Kingdom's transition towards more sustainable and resilient energy sources.