11–20 of 41 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What should water be used for then? They do large-scale agriculture in the same area, which uses several orders of magnitude more water while generating substantially less value.
Food that people and livestock eat is less valuable than data centers used to chase the "AGI any day now" pipe dream? You're kidding right?
Good for them. No groundwater for data centers! Data centers should be run closed loop, if they can't, they shouldn't exist. AZ should also make them generate at least 70% of their power onsite.
Please apply this rule to Tucson's 40 golf courses.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> No groundwater for data centers! It's worst. They use tap water. "...For the purposes of cooling, data centres mainly use potable water (water that is safe to drink or use for cooking, free from harmful contaminants). .." - https://www.twobirds.com/en/insights/2025/cooling-the-cloud-...
This particular data center was going to build a wastewater pipeline to cool their facility with currently-squandered wastewater.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please apply this rule to Tucson's 40 golf courses.
But where will the poor elites go hang out then?
They won't be as high of altitude though so their shots won't go as far. Too bad.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the most cursed aspect in all of this is the fact that regions where evaporative coolers work best tend to have the scarcest water resources. Evaporative cooling is unreasonably effective when water is happy to evaporate. You can cut the power consumption of a datacenter by 70-80% in these regions if you are willing to sacrifice water. I think in this case, solar energy is the best way to run the cooling syst…
If you're doing large scale evap cooling in the Sonoran you're just removing water from an already stressed water table. I'd say put them somewhere cold and do district heating during the winter.
Another dumb question: why are we building projects that need tons of power and water in the Sonoran desert instead of next to the Great Lakes
https://virginiabusiness.com/loudoun-county-supervisors-shak...
What was once a rural county outside of Fairfax, Loudon has seen tremendous development thanks to data center expansion. Now Prince William County( one county over, westward) is trying to fight the same battle before it gets too big of a problem for them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're doing large scale evap cooling in the Sonoran you're just removing water from an already stressed water table. I'd say put them somewhere cold and do district heating during the winter.
I'm not a geologist but...does evaporation remove water from the water table? Where I live, my understanding is the answer is "no" because the vast majority of rain water is deposited in our groundwater. Things like agriculture are dangerous because the answer is "yes" - you're literally shopping the water away as an agricultural product. Another dumb question: why are we building projects that need tons of power and…
You pump water up from the local water table to run your evaporative cooler. The water evaporates. But the air was at 10-20% humidity. The water from the evaporative cooler will raise the humidity, a little bit, but not enough to make it rain. It may make it more likely to rain somewhere downwind a few miles, or a few hundred, but not here.
For your second dumb question: At least some of the Great Lakes have at times had issues with water level. (They want enough to allow ships to pass between the lakes.) The upside is, there the humidity is high enough that you're more likely to get the water back in the form of increased precipitation.
Good for them. No groundwater for data centers! Data centers should be run closed loop, if they can't, they shouldn't exist. AZ should also make them generate at least 70% of their power onsite.
What should water be used for then? They do large-scale agriculture in the same area, which uses several orders of magnitude more water while generating substantially less value.
> Update: Brendan Gallagher, Beale's SVP of development, said in a statement: “We are disappointed in the decision not to pursue this opportunity for Tucson. [...] We see it as a missed opportunity for the city, as this project potentially represents tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure to serve the community, and thousands of high-paying local and union jobs.”…
Good for them. No groundwater for data centers! Data centers should be run closed loop, if they can't, they shouldn't exist. AZ should also make them generate at least 70% of their power onsite.
Please apply this rule to Tucson's 40 golf courses.