The Organization of Clean Energy and Climate is grateful for the positive and supportive comments made in editorial columns of The Marietta Times in their June 3 edition and in their June 22-23 edition. In those references to OCEC the Times indicated that OCEC and its sponsor company, SAI Tech, are a positive sign for the Mid-Ohio Valley and that organizations like the Columbus Cloud Region and Google data centers located in the Columbus area should look beyond central Ohio — including the Mid-Ohio Valley — for collaborators and stakeholders.

OCEC Computing Heat Recycle Center offers the Mid-Ohio Valley an opportunity to provide an advanced technology model for the capture of heat from the rapidly growing development of data centers using artificial intelligence. The surge of AI adoption and soaring AI demand has helped data-center energy use in the U.S. double over the past three years, with another 50% likely by 2027, according to a new government study from Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory, part of the U.S. Department of Energy. This technology works on the premise that when electricity flows through the resistance within computers, heat is generated. These data centers generate a tremendous amount of heat (4 million BTUh generation for every MWh power usage), which in almost all data centers in the country is vented into the air, contributing to global warming and environmental degradation. At its facility on Gravel Bank Road, about seven miles south of Marietta, the SAI R&D center and OCEC Computing Heat Recycling research center were built to develop and demonstrate technologies and systems to capture heat generated from computing, and to recycle and supply it for residential, commercial, and industrial heating. The OCEC site contains a 5,000-foot greenhouse and a soon-to-be completed fish hatchery. The recycled computing heat is supplied to these two applications for year-round operation to demonstrate that computing waste heat can be re-purposed to lower heating cost for agriculture, fishery and aquatic industries. Discussions are currently underway for applying this technology to providing heat to the Washington County Jail; other applications of this technology under development may involve waste-water treatment, drying/cooking/brewing, and the oil and gas industry; in these latter cases a relatively small data center needs to be located at the site where the heat-capture technology is to be utilized.

OCEC is seeking the support of federal grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand the outreach of its innovative technology.

While OCEC and SAI are looking to advance applications of its heat-capture technology, and are in the process of serving as a model of research and development, they are committed to educating students on this technology and on agricultural skills associated with the use of its large greenhouse. With the assistance of a grant of $7,582 from the Marietta Community Foundation, OCEC has already embarked on the educational feature of this technology. Ms. Abby Campbell, award-winning agricultural teacher and FFA Advisor from the Fort Frye School District, is assisting with the development of curricular materials and alignment of these materials with existing CTE (career and technical education) curricula. To that end a session was held on June 3 for several teachers from Washington County school districts and from the local organization, Building Bridges to Careers. Through these curricula and through professional development sessions for teachers, students can learn about the computer technology of heat-capture through advanced data centers, agricultural skills, experimentation of growing vegetables in a specially heated greenhouse, and the importance of community service through the distribution of these locally grown vegetables through the Washington County food-rescue organization, Harvest of Hope.

OCEC is currently attempting to connect with Columbus Cloud Region through our elected officials so that the unique and consequential work being done in Washington County by OCEC is shared more widely than it is. From what we can determine, Google and other companies involved in data-center development in central Ohio are using air cooling to deal with the heat generated by their data centers. We know of no research on the value of this air-cooling process; neither do we know of its environmental impact (air cooling requires separate energy-producing devices itself).

Tao Wu is executive director of OCEC and an executive officer in SAI Tech. He works remotely from his office in Phoenix, Ariz., but comes to Marietta at least once a month and confers regularly by phone and email with local stakeholders and partners of OCEC. George Banziger is a volunteer with the project and serves on the advisory board to OCEC. Full time staff are present at the OCEC site on Gravel Bank Road during regular business hours on weekdays.