Instead of fighting the heat they want to create data furnaces which will use the heat to heat homes and businesses. Their idea is to sell fully enclosed data furnaces much like a regular furnace. The data furnace would physically fit into a basement or closet and integrate into an existing duct system to distribute heat. Additionally, the data furnace would be connected to the Internet and be secured from tampering.

Then, there's this: Microsoft research suggests the possibility of "data furnaces," small server packages of consisting of tens or hundreds of processors engineered to plug into existing HVAC systems to contribute their excess thermal energy to the heating of air and water in the home.

In this paper, we argue that servers can be sent to homes and office buildings and used as a primary heat source. We call this approach the Data Furnace or DF.