Kajawood film studio and green technology startup company Kuulea agree on a major collaboration. The film studio built in Sotkamo, meeting all the needs of international large-scale productions, will receive technology which will enable the heating of their properties with waste heat generated from special effects production and post-production, provided by Kuulea, which specialises in cloud computing and heating solutions.
Kajawood Studios is one of the most technologically advanced film studio projects in the world, and from the start, it has incorporated sustainable and ecological solutions and a cost-efficient operational environment. This has created an entirely unique studio concept which includes not only regular studios but, e.g. new virtual studio technology, office facilities, production facilities, set workshops and five-star accommodation inside the studio area. With technological as well as the studio’s own innovations, Kajawood Studios is able to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of film productions and contribute to sustainable development.
Founded in 2020, Kuulea was born out of a desire to utilise the waste heat generated as a by-product of data processing. In this unique concept, which uses technology from Qarnot Computing, the decentralised data centres – i.e. the servers' processing data – are distributed in properties that need heating. The heat generated as a by-product of data processing is utilised locally to heat properties. In other words, the waste heat generated by the high-performance computing of a cloud computing client is used to heat the property of a heating client.
The production of animations and film-based visual effects causes a significant load on the environment. For example, the production of a 90-minute animated film generates enough waste heat to heat all the water for a family of four for about 28 years. Kajawood Studios wants to be a forerunner in sustainable film production. Therefore, the collaboration with Kuulea was an obvious choice. The cloud computing and heating solutions from Kuulea will help Kajawood Studios reduce its carbon footprint and take part in the sustainable development strategy of the audiovisual industry.
'Using our innovation, we can utilise almost all of the waste heat generated by the servers in the Kajawood Studios property to heat the property. Our carbon neutral service will help Kajawood Studios towards more ecological film production,' Kuulea CEO Kari Koivisto explains.
'We want be part of creating a new, more ecological type of film production. With the help of Kuulea, we have the solution. We use the servers in our property for effects and post-production, and the waste heat generated as a by-product to heat the film studio buildings, which will decrease our heating costs,' Kajawood CEO Miika J. Norvanto notes.
Kajawood has invested in ecological energy technologies. In the summer, when the heat generated by the servers is not needed, it is stored in the boreholes of a geothermal heat pump system. This way the stored heat can be utilised later as the weather cools down and the need for heating increases. In addition to geothermal and data processing heat, the company uses solar energy for its energy and heating solutions.
Kuulea’s cloud computing and heating services are ecological and sustainable in themselves, and a client using cloud computing will automatically receive a report on how much emissions the computing has generated. For example, major film and television industry players such as Netflix, Amazon, Viaplay and Disney+ already require increasingly ecological production processes from their partners.
– It’s important to us that, using Kuulea’s system, we will be able to report the carbon footprint of each animation and process to our clients. We believe that this is the technology of the future on our way towards ecological and sustainable values,' Managing Partner Timo Puustinen, one of the founders of Kajawood Studios, declares.
For more information:
Chief Marketing Officer / Niina Ojala, Kuulea Oy
phone +358 50 5911 822 I email niina.ojala@kuulea.com
Chief Executive Officer / Founder Kari Koivisto, Kuulea Oy
phone +358 40 774 4728 I email kari.koivisto@kuulea.com
Chief Executive Officer / Founder Miika J. Norvanto, Kajawood Oy
phone +358 50 5397399 I email miika@kajawood.com
Managing Partner / Founder Timo Puustinen, Kajawood Oy
phone +358 40 5148 577 I email timo@kajawood.com