45°C cooling design cuts data center water use to near zero

Post by square_usual » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:54 PM UTC

lbriner wrote: post #253

annzabelle wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Northern Virginia, (of AWS US-East-1, MAE-East, and Equinix fame), where there are more data centers than anywhere else in the world, and I never heard organized opposition to them until the last couple of years. They were mainly viewed as a way for Loudoun County to build their industrial tax base without the downsides of having industrial workers, and allowed them to consistently lower property taxes w…

The US is very different from Europe. You have enormous amounts of space so even a Data Center that is "close by" is probably still a mile or more. In smaller places like European countries, the data centre wall might only be 100 yards or less from the back of your house so the proximity blocks light and makes you feel encroached on, even if no-one is peeping. In lots of cases, the center might have been built on ope…

Post by interactivecode » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

maerF0x0 wrote: post #350

> and the same liquid can be recirculated in a closed loop so no new water is consumed to cool the chips That doesn't mean a datacenter doesn't have a very high _initial_ need for water, or to replace _some_ amount of leakage, replacement etc (agreed it will be way lower than say a swamp cooler). For example, they could be using millions of gallons as a sort of "ballast" to keep the water temperature very stable in t…

Post by __alexs » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

croes wrote: post #319

freedomben wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, TFA is talking about a closed loop system and uses a coolant mix, so yeah I think a citation is needed.

I guess parent means the heat has to somewhere, closed system or not. Some nuclear power plants use rivers and lakes, that’s bad for their ecosystems if it’s too much but this system uses dry coolers so the extra heat should be negligible

Post by arethuza » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:13 PM UTC

marcus_holmes wrote: post #195

badpun wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

European cities are doing it already.

Blew my mind living in a Berlin apartment, that the heating & hot water was managed centrally for the entire block (not the apartment block, the whole city block). Too used to Anglo cities where everyone does for themselves.

Post by boulos » Thu, Jun 25, 2026, 3:17 PM UTC

crunchiepooker wrote: post #286

FridgeSeal wrote: post #228

> In the right geography — somewhere with reliably cool outdoor air Aaahh, there’s the catch. “Save resources on cooling by building your data centre somewhere cold, and pollute the surrounding environment by dumping your waste heat wholesale into that!” Good job Nvidia, I almost thought we had something good there.

I’d love that heat in the winter. Imagine, free heat! Linus heats his pool with excess cpu heat. It’s all about using things wisely and not panicking. AI and datacenters are here to stay, you can’t fight them, but you can leverage their waste for profit.