An Iowa-based entrepreneur is considering building a computer data center in west Eugene and using cooling water from the facility as warm water for a shrimp farm that would be built next door.

The details are fuzzy, and it’s uncertain whether the project will ever move forward.

On the surface, the idea seems outlandish. But experts for years have sought uses for the large amounts of warm water that data centers generate as they cool their racks of computer servers. Aquaculture is an option.

The businessman, Kevin Friesth, has submitted some preliminary paperwork and questions to city planning staff and is looking into buying up to 38 acres of industrial-zoned land in west Eugene for the facility. The land, owned by Portland-area investors, is on the market for $14.8 million.

Friesth d

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