Equinix’s excess heat export initiatives in Toronto and around the globe
Private and public companies, including data centers, are under the microscope regarding environmental sustainability. Investors, customers and employees alike want to know what businesses are doing to protect the environment and use natural resources more efficiently.
There are many ways to employ innovative practices that support cleaner, more efficient operations and contribute to the daily life of community members. Many people are aware of the global sustainability strategies that companies often pursue, such as increasing their renewable energy coverage. However, the sustainability initiatives that directly benefit residents and businesses in local communities might not be as well-known.
Data centers, like many production facilities, require significant amounts of energy and the demand for energy in this sector is forecasted to increase at an unprecedented rate. In the US, as an example, data center energy consumption is forecasted to account for nearly half of the growth in electricity demand between now and 2030[1]. Therefore, energy efficiency needs to be a core requirement for the data center industry.
As we launch our annual Equinix sustainability report for 2024, we’re highlighting an innovative way that Equinix is thinking globally and acting locally. Heat export is a significant way that data center operators can give back to communities where they operate, by distributing excess heat to warm buildings and water in local communities. One of the longest-running data center heat export projects is one that Equinix operates in partnership with Markham District Energy, a thermal energy utility in Markham, Ontario, one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities.
Data center heat export develops the local circular economy
You might be wondering what heat export is and how it works. In a few words, it’s a process used to capture and convert residual heat into a suitable form for other uses within a community. Running servers in our data centers generates heat. With heat export, rather than letting that heat go to waste, we develop partnerships that will allow us to collect heat and redeploy it in our communities for various uses, as shown in the diagram below.
By capturing and distributing heat generated in data centers, we’re supporting the circular economy, which involves reusing materials and products as much as possible to reduce waste and optimize valuable resources–like heat.
With over a decade of experience recovering and exporting heat, Equinix is at the forefront of this emerging movement. We created the Equinix Heat Export program to establish partnerships with municipal planning agencies, energy utilities and heat network operators worldwide. With these partners, we collaborate to expand the distribution of excess heat from data centers to serve local communities.
We have already formed heat export partnerships in Canada, Finland and France, and we have a pipeline of projects under development in several other countries, including the United States. Equinix does not seek any income from the heat we export; it’s an opportunity to give back to the community while making more efficient use of the energy resource we procure for our data centers.
Exporting excess heat has a broad reach into the community
The city of Markham established Markham District Energy (MDE) in response to the clear need for reliable community energy systems following a 1998 ice storm in eastern Ontario and Quebec. Using heat from the MDE system improves energy resilience and security of the community by reducing or removing reliance on gas and electricity systems (which can be knocked out in an ice storm) to provide warmth in winter.
Upon completing the first energy plant in 2000, MDE started serving their first customer, IBM Canada. The IBM research lab and data center was a catalyst for advancing the city’s Municipal Energy plan in 2011 and became the first anchor customer for the heat network.
In 2020, Equinix purchased the TR5 data center facility from Bell Canada, as part of a broader acquisition. Equinix continued the MDE heat export partnership that was already in place at TR5. The MDE system that TR5 is connected to supplies heat to over 14 million square feet of mixed-use development, including retail, commercial, institutional and condominium uses.
The MDE system heats and cools about 9,000 residential units plus other facilities, including movie theaters, an expanded sub-campus for York University, two high schools, a YMCA and two hotels. The excess heat from the TR5 data center also warms the domestic hot water in condo buildings and two swimming pools in local community centers.
Currently, there are times during the summer when there is simply more heat than the community can use, resulting in the rejection of excess heat from the data center. However, as more buildings are connected to the district energy system, the aim is to recover 100% of the excess data center heat.
Gauging the success of heat export initiatives
Communities throughout the world are using data center heat export as part of their multifaceted energy management strategies. In 2024, we worked with local governments and organizations to establish data center heat export projects at three additional facilities in Paris and Helsinki. This includes connecting to the heat network that supplies the Saint-Denis Olympic Aquatics Centre (OAC) that was used at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Our excess heat from the Equinix PA10 data center in Paris will also warm up more than 1,000 homes in the neighborhoods surrounding the aquatic center. Similarly, heat recovered and exported from one Helsinki location is forecast to warm over 1,000 homes in the local community.
We believe there’s an enormous opportunity to make a difference in communities worldwide by expanding the Equinix Heat Export partnership program. Heat export is just one example of our focus on creating solutions that help us minimize and repurpose waste responsibly throughout the life cycle of our buildings while also improving the PUE at our facilities. It’s also part of our Future First commitment to sustainability; we deliver digital infrastructure that fosters positive change through secure, efficient and responsible solutions.
To learn more about other sustainability initiatives at Equinix and the progress we made in 2024, check out our interactive sustainability report.
If you’d like to get more details about becoming a partner in the Equinix Heat Export program, contact us today.
[1] AI is set to drive surging electricity demand from data centres while offering the potential to transform how the energy sector works, International Energy Agency (IEA), April 10, 2025.
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