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A hot topic for a cold climate

Samvinna | Collaboration    06.02.2026    ENG

This talk will showcase a first-of-its-kind Icelandic circular economy technology that is enabling waste heat from industry to be captured and utilized to support local food production and cut down on impactful food imports. We will share the journey of the technology development so far, the deployment of the first successful prototype that grew microgreens with data centre heat in the winter in Northern Iceland - Transforming data into dinner. We will then share how our company is building with sustainability in its DNA, from resources, to material supply chain to a local food revolution driven by Industrial Symbiosis thinking and collaboration.

Dr. Alexandra Leeper & Justine Vanhalst

Hringvarmi
Founders

Hringvarmi ehf. was founded in Iceland in 2024 by Justine Vanhalst and Dr. Alexandra Leeper experts in circular economy a resource utilization. The team have been developing their Hringvarmi pod technology that is a first-of-its-kind solution that captures excess heat from industry and channels it in to recycled shipping container that have been re-imagined into plug-and-play farming space ideal for cold-climate, year-round food production. Their prototype was successfully deployed at a data centre in North Iceland in early 2025 and has produced microgreens- Transforming Data into Dinner.