Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
postandcourier.com
Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
1–10 of 92 posts
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#2Going to go ahead and recommend Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife. And The Windup Girl is even better, but not on topic.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#3Water has an exceptionally high heat capacity, I get it. But using drinking water to cool our servers (in the interest of seeing the very best ads) seems like an exceptionally short-sighted choice for us to make.
If there is a less worthwhile thing for us to be doing with potable water, I can't think of it.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#4Water is great for cooling, but who the hell dumps it afterwards?! I don't think they quite understood what "water cooling" is..
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#5Water is great for cooling, but who the hell dumps it afterwards?! I don't think they quite understood what "water cooling" is..
Yes, I don't get it either. The article implies that they reuse it for a while, and then dump. But I can imagine how filter and ion-exchange systems need water for back-flushing and other maintenance. So maybe there's some hard-to-avoid loss.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#6Water has an exceptionally high heat capacity, I get it. But using drinking water to cool our servers (in the interest of seeing the very best ads) seems like an exceptionally short-sighted choice for us to make. If there is a less worthwhile thing for us to be doing with potable water, I can't think of it.
> using drinking water to cool our servers seems like an exceptionally short-sighted choice for us to make.
In that case "us" is Google, in that server farm specifically. The article mentions there exists better alternatives :
> The National Security Agency cools its Fort Meade, Maryland data center with treated wastewater, touted as an environmental boon and cost savings compared to tap water or aquifer pumping.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#7"The price of tap water has risen faster than gold or real estate . . ." What an odd pair of benchmarks. We don't expect the prices of either of those items to rise particularly fast. What was the actual rate of increase in the price of tap water? According to the Case-Schiller index, national housing prices have roughly doubled in the last twenty years (I don't know if the index accounts for inflation). That doesn't seem like an extraordinary rate of increase for the price of tap water.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#8Are there any "municipal heating" systems in the U.S.?
It's popular in NL, the idea is basically hot (~70 degrees celcius) water being pumped from industrial areas (where it was used for cooling), to residential areas for cheap heating.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#9Water is great for cooling, but who the hell dumps it afterwards?! I don't think they quite understood what "water cooling" is..
They dump it because it's not cool anymore and nobody is wanting to buy hot water from them at a cost that makes it worth their while.
If they had the capability to cool the water fast enough then they'd use a closed loop cooling system and wouldn't need to pump fresh, cool groundwater.
Re: Google's controversial groundwater withdrawal sparks question
#10Water is great for cooling, but who the hell dumps it afterwards?! I don't think they quite understood what "water cooling" is..
Evaporative cooling, like those cooling towers next to hydrothermal power plants.