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Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

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Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#191
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beauty of the phrase is that it’s universal.

Is it? I want to talk with aliens as much as the next guy, but so far it seems like the vast majority of the universe is a vacuum--biologically speaking.

That's because there is not much stuff in the universe, and whatever there is, tends to cluster together under gravity. But within such a cluster, if you create empty space, something will want to rush to fill it in.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#192
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is it significant or is it insignificant Then a study (ideally multiple studies) should be commissioned to find this out. We shouldn't just do it because we can, and because armchair physicists are pretty sure that it's insignificant. Because, that's what Microsoft (and their partner) did. They did it because they could. Remember when we, as a global society, believed that CFCs would have an insignificant impact on…

I doubt these would add more heat than a single new volcano does, but I’m all ears. According to research[1] tectonic activity adds about 3 cubic km of magma/lava each year to the oceans (that’s 100 times the annual production by mauna loa.) [1] http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/138

This sounds a whole lot like the "global warming couldn't possibly be our fault (because: volcanoes) so let's not change anything" line of thinking, just applied to oceans instead of the atmosphere.

In which case, we'll just end up talking past each other, so I'll wish you a good day.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#193
post #6

It seems an additional hurdle is anti-fouling. Those barnacles and algae act as an insulator, making the cold-water cooling advantage less and less of an advantage.

If the surface were that hot, would sea creatures still want to live on it? I have no idea what their range of tolerance is, but I'd assume that they're well adapted for living on relatively cool rocks. And if it's not that hot, then it seems like there's not a cooling problem. (To be clear, I'm speculating without any real knowledge of this subject, and welcome the inevitable corrections.)

The best resources for this would be the sites that talk about the marine life around nuclear power plants. I do not have links handy, but those would be good places to start.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#194

Microsoft patented the way to power these data centers using tidal energy in ocean itself. They patented in 2017. http://www.whatafuture.com/microsoft-underwater-data-centers...

"All of Orkney's electricity comes from wind and solar power"

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ocean is host to a very wide number of creatures and bacteria, some live in arctic cold waters, others on volcanic vents, and every range in between. There's a good saying for this, roughly translated, that nature doesn't love an empty spot — if one type of plant or bacteria won't live in an area, someone else will quickly settle in.

We have "nature abhors a vacuum" in English

We have a new phrase, “Gravity abhors a vacuum.”

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#197

Microsoft patented the way to power these data centers using tidal energy in ocean itself. They patented in 2017. http://www.whatafuture.com/microsoft-underwater-data-centers...

"All of Orkney's electricity comes from wind and solar power"

If they patented it in 2017, I'm guessing it probably didn't make it in to this one, but the assumption is that the next version may have that technology.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#198
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt these would add more heat than a single new volcano does, but I’m all ears. According to research[1] tectonic activity adds about 3 cubic km of magma/lava each year to the oceans (that’s 100 times the annual production by mauna loa.) [1] http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/138

This sounds a whole lot like the "global warming couldn't possibly be our fault (because: volcanoes) so let's not change anything" line of thinking, just applied to oceans instead of the atmosphere. In which case, we'll just end up talking past each other, so I'll wish you a good day.

This is only heat. Unless it’s releasing unbeknownst to me greenhouse liquids or gasses, it’s not the same argument.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but this is such a 'goalpost' movement here that simply takes away a lot of context. The whole point of doing a dc underground is to reduce the hvac energy consumption which has a much larger ecological impact in terms of heat generated, power usage, potential greenhouse gas usage. The name of the game here is energy efficiency and conservation. Use less power by reducing power distribution loss at scale. W…

I don't think jacquesm is off the mark in asking these questions, especially: > what is the direct ecological impact of doing this at scale What is the impact on sea creatures if we put these giant heated cylinders in their territory? Is there any impact? I really doubt we have the answers yet. > at scale ...also implies that there will be more than one. So if one heat cylinder doesn't do anything, what about 10? 100…

It's not a poor question, but the phrasing implies that the ones constructing this test datacenter have not thought about this. Given that the engineers in question have spent many months designing and constructing this device, it's extremely unlikely that some random commentor on HN (even one with interests as varied as Jacques) is going to have questions that have not come up yet.

Asking the questions here on HN instead of in a place where the designers are likely to read them makes it seem it's more of a karma grab than a reasonable "I have concerns" type situation that he really wants to do something about. Nor are random HN commenters very likely to have big, fact-backed contributions btw. It's just alarmism under the pretense of innocently asking questions.

Re: Microsoft's underwater data centre resurfaces after two years

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the only way it leaves the planet is by black body radiation But, if you're heating the oceans, you're putting an entire other mass (the atmosphere) between yourself and space. So you're heating the water, the water is heating the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is radiating that into space. It's adding a step to the overall cooling process.

That's not really how it works. The land and ocean radiate their energy directly into space. This works through emitting mostly infrared frequency light for which, just like visible light, the atmosphere is mostly transparent.

However, water can also transfer heat to the atmosphere via conduction, evaporation, etc. I don't know the comparative rates, but there is certainly a lot of evaporation.
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