ComputeGrid: A Utility-Integrated Distributed Compute Network — Commercial-First Edge Nodes, Grid-Aware Orchestration, and a Heat-Recovery Pathway for Residential Participation

Abstract

ComputeGrid is a concept paper and feasibility framework for a utility-integrated network of provider-owned compute nodes hosted at commercial buildings, public facilities, and — through a heat-recovery variant — homes. Hosts receive full metered reimbursement of node electricity plus a separate credit; nodes are aggregated by an orchestration and settlement platform (ComputeGrid OS) into one secure, grid-aware, dispatchable compute layer beneath hyperscale data centers. Version 3.0 evaluates the concept against two structural facts: residential retail electricity is the most expensive power a compute operator can buy, and a decade of distributed-compute ventures (spot marketplaces, deploy-first token networks, and heat-recovery operators) shows which configurations survive. The paper therefore leads with commercial and public-building deployment, admits residential nodes only where waste heat displaces heating the host would otherwise purchase, and requires every site to pass at least one of four economic qualifiers — near-commercial power price, monetizable heat, a priced locality premium, or measurable grid-flexibility value — before hardware is committed. The paper includes a two-sided illustrative unit ledger, host consumer-protection and property-rights baselines, rules preventing host-purchased “income” hardware, a staged offtake-first pilot plan with published kill criteria, and a claim framework that treats all economics as illustrative pending Stage 0 diligence. It is an open concept paper, not peer reviewed; no field deployment or empirical dataset is reported. Version 1.0 drafting was assisted by OpenAI ChatGPT; Versions 2.0 and 3.0 critique and revision were assisted by Anthropic Claude under the author’s direction. The author is responsible for the final claims and release.