Harvesting Heat to Reduce Costs and Emissions

Colocating a data center with academic, healthcare, commercial office, multifamily residential, or other high-occupancy building types with year-round heating demands creates a valuable opportunity to reduce energy consumption and costs through heat-sharing.

Currently under construction in Corvallis, Oregon, The Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex at Oregon State University will feature one of the nation’s most advanced supercomputers, yet is designed to achieve net zero operations by 2030. The supercomputer’s heat output will be harvested to warm the entire 143,000-square-foot complex as well as adjacent buildings in the future, ultimately providing significant cost savings for the university over time.

Integrating Onsite Data and Aligning Space Uses to Balance Utility Loads

Bringing data centers closer to the urban centers where their energy and data services are in highest demand can help not only to optimize real estate and energy efficiency, but can also reduce latency.

Headquarters to PAE, whose work prioritizes regenerative engineering, the mixed-use, multi-tenant PAE Living Building in Portland, Oregon, operates as net zero energy, water, and carbon. The all-electric building includes a small data center to support tenants’ technologies. To offset the heat being generated, PAE placed the building’s domestic hot water heat pump—which emits cool air—directly across from the data center, balancing the spaces’ waste outputs and minimizing their energy use with a simple colocation strategy.

Leveraging Mass Timber for Speed, Sustainability, and Strength

Mass timber lends itself to a “kit of parts” approach, making it ideal for faster assembly compared to concrete or steel. Quicker construction schedules help reduce costs, especially in dense urban environments where logistics are more complex. The community benefits too, from timber manufacturing’s significantly lower carbon emissions versus traditional materials like concrete and steel, saving over 50% of the embodied carbon footprint of a project when factoring in the carbon stored in the wood itself.

The PAE Living Building illustrates how mass timber can streamline delivery and support sustainability goals. The five-story building was constructed in just over a year—a pace made possible in large part by its prefabricated timber frame. As a Living Building Challenge certified project, it proves that high-performance buildings can be built faster, cleaner, and more beautifully, even in tight urban conditions.

Bringing Sustainable Infrastructure Front-and-Center

Data centers are often hidden—by design and by default. But as their role in the digital economy grows, so should their visibility as responsible, community-integrated infrastructure. Thoughtful, regenerative design can help shift data centers from being perceived as isolated energy consumers to becoming integrated contributors to community and sustainability goals.

Stanford University’s Central Energy Facility, while not a data center, offers a compelling parallel. Replacing a 100% fossil-fuel-based cogeneration plant, the facility now runs on grid-sourced electricity and features a first-of-its-kind heat recovery system. The result: a 68% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 65% drop in fossil fuel use, and an 18% cut in water consumption campus-wide. Just as important, the facility was designed to be seen. Its design emphasizes lightness, transparency, and sustainability—communicating its purpose to the broader community.

This visibility matters. While data centers face unique operational challenges, transparency can help build public trust and demonstrate sustainability in action. Whether through visible clean energy systems, shared resources, or low-carbon materials, putting innovation on display marks a step toward more responsible digital infrastructure.