'Cloud' computers could heat homes

Microsoft says installing cloud computing servers into homes and businesses could heat them instead of wasting energy by cooling the air in server data centers.

Customers would purchase a server unit and have it installed in the basement, where it would heat the home, during the homeowner's existing broadband connection would connect the server to the cloud.

Larger server "farms" with more CPUs could be installed in business buildings, providing more computing power for the cloud company during reducing heating bills for the hosts, the paper said.

Cost savings for cloud computing companies could be significant, the paper's authors said, estimated at from $280 to $324 a year per server.