This article fails to mention (I presume, after skimming it) that all these data centers aren’t using water because it is magically better suited for this job, it’s just cheap and abundant.
This “new cooling design” doesn’t mean shit when it doesn’t address the reason data centers are using so much water
They already don't need evaporative cooling. They just don't want to pay for closed loop systems because they're more expensive than evaporative cooling.
The solution exists, it's just not required so no one is paying to do it when they don't have to.
Existing systems rely on air to pass heat to a radiator, which then relays heat to the ambient air outside. In order to keep temperatures inside the data centre at sane levels, the cooling water needs to be below ambient temperature, which can be done with either chillers or evaporative cooling. Running a chiller takes a lot of electricity to say the least.
By exchanging heat between the chip and the cooling water directly, it seems they're claiming they can just have a heat exchanger with no chiller or evaporative cooling required. Which is probably true, it's why over clocked gaming PCs are often water cooled.
Again, they’re not using water for its properties. Heat transfer efficiency is low on the list of priorities. Cost, both upfront and running, is the deciding factor
Surely you must realise heat transfer efficiency and cost are closely linked, right? You haven't told us anything we don't already know. Of course this is about saving money, that's already obvious.
I'm not sure what argument or point you're trying to make here. Why do you think they're using water, exactly? And surely you must realise how efficiency and cost are linked?
It’s money. The goal is to save as much money as possible.
Businesses, corporations, contractors, investors. All the people making decisions are trying to save every bit of money possible.
Surely you realize heat transfer efficiency isn’t linked to the cost of water. Which doesn’t even show up on the balance sheet.
You seem to have a hard time understanding that water is used because it is cheaper than the alternatives which already exist. This new development won't replace water while the water remains cheap.
Why do people keep acting like a company wanting to save money is a revelation? It's so blindingly obvious, there's no need to tell everyone all the time?
No closed loop system is 100% efficient. I worked in my youth with steam loop systems and even they developed leaks. Every few years needed to be shutdown and drained. 100% if they truly meant that is a fantasy/lie.
Lol, and now you're being persnickety about a 100,000th or 10,000th placeholder for the 9 in a forum comment. Do I need to smell your pits? I think we know how often you bathe. XD
Nope. Just the reality that I described one closed loop system while Data centers represents thousands of closed loop systems. You need to work on your responses. Your attempt at descibing the odor of my response has nothing to do with where I pulled it from. I pulled it from reality. That thing you try to create not the one we all live in.
Eh, I think even if it's 99.9999% they should still round down to 99% to give the reader the knowledge that no it's not actually 100% even if it's miniscule. 99% is still super impressive. 100% means one thing and one thing only.
"Designed" to be 100%. Obviously there are some practical limits, like if something wears out or physically breaks / degrades over time. Limits on how well something can be sealed, etc.
If you have an automobile, how often are you topping off the radiator?
How often you change coolant in a automobile varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. If you have a Toyota you should replace it every two years or 30,000 miles. Everyone keeps trying to convince me its 100% but its not and it can't ever be. The infrastructure to achieve it is way too expensive. They will just drain the water table. We are not dealing with decent human beings.
I guess they will be completely blown away when they find out, that one can actually link data centers to distributed heating networks and thereby actually use the primary output of those premium priced electrical heating plants, instead of just wasting it and lots of water while doing so. Of course, for doing so one would have to properly plan those data centers and need more time developing them etc. And then it would take longer than this bubble might last so that is not an option.
I read a story of one datacenter years ago where their waste heat was heating the industrial complex around them. It was a nice change to see. Regulations around it would really help. Oh you want to do this? You need to reuse 80% of your waste heat to get approval, and have x% of power be renewable.
They're using water cooling directly on each component, swapping heat sinks for water blocks. It's not a new idea, water cooled PCs have been doing it for a very long time, but never done at data centre scales as far as I know.
Given how long water cooling has been around, I'm certain that technology is nothing new. I remember Linus Tech Tips trying to do something similar, where they water cooled all the video editing PCs on one big system.
Doing it on the scale of a data center will be something new though.
However, radiators in your car are also effective due to a constant airflow over them as they are moving. Datacenters don’t move, so what will help that transfer?
Wait....do you think no air is pushed over the radiator without it moving? Clutch fans and electric fans run when you're stuck in traffic or idling. They turn on or off when the tstat tells them to (minus clutch fans that run off the engines own power).
My point was more about forced airflow, whether it be the movement of the car (less use of energy, as you’re using the motion of the air to provide airflow) or if you’re sitting still you have those fans, which are a power draw. In the case of a DC, you’d always have to have a fan to do what a car does passively. So that increases, cost, energy use and complexity.
Most DC builders are avoiding closed loop systems already as they’re more expensive.
I see, I don't understand why they're not doing thermal cooling. Just a little below the surface the temp is like 50-55, cooling liquid down from that level is a lot easier than doing it from 100+ in a desert. Go closed loop then...and build these things in the middle of no where, where no one lives...then power them off solar and nuclear power.....or just don't build them because no one wants this shitty clippy 2.0 anyways.
The whole reason they don't do it already is that evaporative cooling saves on energy. So their energy consumption will go up if they want to save on water lol
added expense is the only "problem". Capitalism doesnt care about the environment at all. If they can make an extra dollar killing the planet they will consider it their fi-douche-iary duty to do so.
65 Comments
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works · 108 pts · 66d
This article fails to mention (I presume, after skimming it) that all these data centers aren’t using water because it is magically better suited for this job, it’s just cheap and abundant.
This “new cooling design” doesn’t mean shit when it doesn’t address the reason data centers are using so much water
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 66d
They kinda do, they say that, because the coolant is so efficient at transferring energy, a data center will not need evaporative cooling.
It would be very interesting to know what the upper limit of air temperature would be.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 65 pts · 66d
They already don't need evaporative cooling. They just don't want to pay for closed loop systems because they're more expensive than evaporative cooling.
The solution exists, it's just not required so no one is paying to do it when they don't have to.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 66d
Existing systems rely on air to pass heat to a radiator, which then relays heat to the ambient air outside. In order to keep temperatures inside the data centre at sane levels, the cooling water needs to be below ambient temperature, which can be done with either chillers or evaporative cooling. Running a chiller takes a lot of electricity to say the least.
By exchanging heat between the chip and the cooling water directly, it seems they're claiming they can just have a heat exchanger with no chiller or evaporative cooling required. Which is probably true, it's why over clocked gaming PCs are often water cooled.
Damage@feddit.it · -3 pts · 66d
Why a chiller? You don't need to freeze the servers. If you just use a normal radiator you remove the compressor and just need a pump and a fan
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 66d
This has to be the dumbest reply I've had in a while.
I said below ambient, not below freezing. You can only ever cool to ambient temperature with a radiator.
Damage@feddit.it · 2 pts · 65d
Yeah and a processor's ideal temperature is 70°C... If the ambient temperature is above that, nevermind the server.
You're a rude motherfucker btw
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 64d
If the ambient temperature is 70c, that's the least of your worries. There's probably an electrical fire at that point.
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 66d
Again, they’re not using water for its properties. Heat transfer efficiency is low on the list of priorities. Cost, both upfront and running, is the deciding factor
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 66d
Surely you must realise heat transfer efficiency and cost are closely linked, right? You haven't told us anything we don't already know. Of course this is about saving money, that's already obvious.
don_joe@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 66d
Who’s us? I didn’t struggle understanding what they said at all
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -6 pts · 66d
I'm not sure what argument or point you're trying to make here. Why do you think they're using water, exactly? And surely you must realise how efficiency and cost are linked?
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 66d
I don’t know how to be any clearer.
LOW COST > HIGH COST.
It’s money. The goal is to save as much money as possible. Businesses, corporations, contractors, investors. All the people making decisions are trying to save every bit of money possible.
Surely you realize heat transfer efficiency isn’t linked to the cost of water. Which doesn’t even show up on the balance sheet.
100 * 0 = 100000000 * 0
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -7 pts · 66d
Do you genuinely think I didn't know businesses want to save money? Why are you telling me this?
sqgl@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 66d
You seem to have a hard time understanding that water is used because it is cheaper than the alternatives which already exist. This new development won't replace water while the water remains cheap.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -5 pts · 66d
Are you talking about evaporative cooling? Because this new system still very much uses water, in a closed loop.
And I'm aware water is cheap, it falls out of the sky.
Mac@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 66d
After your previous comment, i thought that about you as well.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 66d
Why do people keep acting like a company wanting to save money is a revelation? It's so blindingly obvious, there's no need to tell everyone all the time?
edible_funk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 65d
Are you being deliberately obtuse?
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 66d
100%? So no water at all.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 12 pts · 66d
A closed loop system would achieve this, or at least after the initial filling of the system.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 65d
No closed loop system is 100% efficient. I worked in my youth with steam loop systems and even they developed leaks. Every few years needed to be shutdown and drained. 100% if they truly meant that is a fantasy/lie.
Nouvellalia@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 65d
Refilling the whole system every few years is a 99.99999+% reduction though. I'll give them a pass for rounding up on the headline or press release.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 65d
Do I need to smell that number? I think I know where it came from.
Nouvellalia@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 65d
Lol, and now you're being persnickety about a 100,000th or 10,000th placeholder for the 9 in a forum comment. Do I need to smell your pits? I think we know how often you bathe. XD
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 65d
Nope. Just the reality that I described one closed loop system while Data centers represents thousands of closed loop systems. You need to work on your responses. Your attempt at descibing the odor of my response has nothing to do with where I pulled it from. I pulled it from reality. That thing you try to create not the one we all live in.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 65d
Eh, I think even if it's 99.9999% they should still round down to 99% to give the reader the knowledge that no it's not actually 100% even if it's miniscule. 99% is still super impressive. 100% means one thing and one thing only.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 65d
"Designed" to be 100%. Obviously there are some practical limits, like if something wears out or physically breaks / degrades over time. Limits on how well something can be sealed, etc.
If you have an automobile, how often are you topping off the radiator?
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 64d
How often you change coolant in a automobile varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. If you have a Toyota you should replace it every two years or 30,000 miles. Everyone keeps trying to convince me its 100% but its not and it can't ever be. The infrastructure to achieve it is way too expensive. They will just drain the water table. We are not dealing with decent human beings.
Jiral@lemmy.world · 42 pts · 66d
Wow, they invented closed loop cooling.
I guess they will be completely blown away when they find out, that one can actually link data centers to distributed heating networks and thereby actually use the primary output of those premium priced electrical heating plants, instead of just wasting it and lots of water while doing so. Of course, for doing so one would have to properly plan those data centers and need more time developing them etc. And then it would take longer than this bubble might last so that is not an option.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 66d
I read a story of one datacenter years ago where their waste heat was heating the industrial complex around them. It was a nice change to see. Regulations around it would really help. Oh you want to do this? You need to reuse 80% of your waste heat to get approval, and have x% of power be renewable.
We know how do it, people just dont.
potpotato@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 65d
Industrial ecology. Like you said, it’s not new, just takes some effort.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 65d
They're using water cooling directly on each component, swapping heat sinks for water blocks. It's not a new idea, water cooled PCs have been doing it for a very long time, but never done at data centre scales as far as I know.
Nouvellalia@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 65d
The world's fastest computers have been using them for a very long time. Though not data center sized, they are usually 100+ racks.
Jiral@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 65d
I thought that water cooled server gpus have been around for a while now, maybe I am mistaken.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 65d
Given how long water cooling has been around, I'm certain that technology is nothing new. I remember Linus Tech Tips trying to do something similar, where they water cooled all the video editing PCs on one big system.
Doing it on the scale of a data center will be something new though.
pHr34kY@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 66d
This cooling tech sounds exactly like the radiator in my car.
ramble81@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 66d
However, radiators in your car are also effective due to a constant airflow over them as they are moving. Datacenters don’t move, so what will help that transfer?
CADmonkey@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 66d
My car has this ancient technology called a "fan" to move air over the radiator when its running but not moving.
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 65d
Well, that's pretty cutting edge, it's only been used since the beginning of the last century.
SupraMario@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 66d
Wait....do you think no air is pushed over the radiator without it moving? Clutch fans and electric fans run when you're stuck in traffic or idling. They turn on or off when the tstat tells them to (minus clutch fans that run off the engines own power).
ramble81@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 66d
My point was more about forced airflow, whether it be the movement of the car (less use of energy, as you’re using the motion of the air to provide airflow) or if you’re sitting still you have those fans, which are a power draw. In the case of a DC, you’d always have to have a fan to do what a car does passively. So that increases, cost, energy use and complexity.
Most DC builders are avoiding closed loop systems already as they’re more expensive.
SupraMario@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 65d
I see, I don't understand why they're not doing thermal cooling. Just a little below the surface the temp is like 50-55, cooling liquid down from that level is a lot easier than doing it from 100+ in a desert. Go closed loop then...and build these things in the middle of no where, where no one lives...then power them off solar and nuclear power.....or just don't build them because no one wants this shitty clippy 2.0 anyways.
elucubra@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 65d
Convection? Just install chimneys with the radiator at the base. That can even be coupled with fan driven generators. Fairly old tech too.
pHr34kY@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 66d
Being bigger. They don't move so they can be huge.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 65d
It's genuinely the same idea. It's also something that has been done for many years in PCs, but not on the scale of a data center.
tidderuuf@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 65d
Datacenters: "It cost how much? Fuck that we need profit today not tomorrow. Fuck yo environment. Where we buildin next?"
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 65d
The whole reason they don't do it already is that evaporative cooling saves on energy. So their energy consumption will go up if they want to save on water lol
0x0@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 65d
Requiring any datacenter to also include a basin system with recycling of the water should be mandatory.
It doesnt matter how the datacenter is "too big" to handle that, build a bigger fucking pool.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 66d
It sounds like genuinely cool technology in multiple ways. A water block on every single major component, and no cooling fans at all.
That would also be a very quiet room, rather than having thousands of tiny little fans screaming all the time.
Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 66d
The failure domain becomes everything below the box that leaks?
There’s nothing wrong with air cooling.
Ilovethebomb@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 66d
Did you miss the part about millions of dollars in energy savings per year?
Baggie@lemmy.zip · 14 pts · 65d
Yeah so they literally always could have done this. They probably only started now because there was so much of a stink being kicked up about it
victorz@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 66d
Still gonna be using tons of energy, so hit me up when they claim 100% reduction in energy and I'm interested.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 65d
Just cool with Cabernet Sauvignon, and you're also saving lots of water.
Cort@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 64d
If you set it up right you could capture some of the evaporated portions and turn it into brandy.
I'm actually kinda surprised that data centers aren't repurposing the heat to evaporate lithium brine
W3dd1e@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 64d
Chat GPT’s replies seem drunk anyway.
Maggie@thelemmy.club · 4 pts · 65d
Why don't I believe this?
Bieren@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 66d
Maybe so. But it would cost money. And companies just don’t do that in America.
kreskin@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 64d
added expense is the only "problem". Capitalism doesnt care about the environment at all. If they can make an extra dollar killing the planet they will consider it their fi-douche-iary duty to do so.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 66d
Is it reduced 100% or 1200%?
Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone · -4 pts · 66d