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US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

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Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#61

Post by utopiah »

delichon wrote: post #58

Support for data centers jumps a net 31 points after voters are told modern facilities can reuse the same cooling water for up to 10 years, new poll finds. -- https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2092209623583404461 https://www.raineycenter.org/polling/data-centers-voters-are... For a closed loop cooling project: Fluid renewal occurs only every 7–15 years and is performed in a fully contained process that meets state and…

> modern facilities can reuse

Can, but do they? Feels a bit like Musk's Colossus that "could" use nuclear power but has been running on "temporary" natural-gas turbines for years now.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#62

Post by KennyBlanken »

zug_zug wrote: post #37
thevinter wrote: post #13

Irrespective of how this number is calculated, whether is blue/green water etc here is some comparison data for context, since I personally think that hearing big numbers without any point of reference is pointless. Annual withdrawals (2015) - Thermoelectric power: ~48.5 trillion gal - Irrigation: ~43.1 trillion gal - Public supply: ~14.2 trillion gal - Self-supplied industrial: ~5.4 trillion gal - Aquaculture: ~2.76…

Good context, but aren't many of your examples simply putting that water back into the ground? Also, where the water is taken from is the key issue. If this was ocean water nobody would care, but if it's Reston, VA that's a local issue.

I'm not sure what led you to believe that the water is being put back into the ground "simply" or otherwise but maybe you shouldn't be acting like it's a non-issue when you clearly don't understand the problem.

DCs are pumping the water through evaporative cooling towers because the latent heat of vaporizaton means there's a huge amount of heat sucked up in the phase change from liquid to vapor. None of the water is being "put back into the ground" except maybe that used during flushing and other maintenance.

"Dry" cooling exists, where there is a closed coolant or refrigerant loop run through radiators, but those require more power, which increases cost and limits how much power can be used for compute (but they also get the say "it makes us use more power, bad for the environment! We're being Green by using evaporative cooling!")

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#63

Post by [deleted] »

sokoloff wrote: post #43
zachwill wrote: post #16

One gallon of almond milk requires 1,600+ gallons of water (likely much more — given some estimates are each almond requires up to 3 gallons of water). US almonds are almost entirely grown in California and consume 1.5T to 2T gallons of the state’s water. It’s pretty dumb to compare AI/data center usage to water usage when something that’s actually wasteful such as almond milk exists. There’s better metrics to make o…

As a reference, one gallon of cow milk requires about 250 gallons of water.

[deleted]

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#64

Post by theultdev »

fridental wrote: post #4

What happens with the water in the DC after it has been consumed?

a little evaps, goes back into the water cycle.

non-issue, chinese propaganda to get us to slow down.

unfortunately some people parrot it, but most are smart enough to know it's bs.

you'd think they would want to shutdown golf courses first, it's pure leisure and much more water, but it's not about that :)

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#65

Post by zug_zug »

wraptile wrote: post #56
thevinter wrote: post #13

Irrespective of how this number is calculated, whether is blue/green water etc here is some comparison data for context, since I personally think that hearing big numbers without any point of reference is pointless. Annual withdrawals (2015) - Thermoelectric power: ~48.5 trillion gal - Irrigation: ~43.1 trillion gal - Public supply: ~14.2 trillion gal - Self-supplied industrial: ~5.4 trillion gal - Aquaculture: ~2.76…

> Livestock: ~730 billion gal This is a good illustration how cursed the datacenter topic has become when people go out of their minds on computer cooling while continuing to eat meat which lets be perfectly clear - is mostly for entertainment purposes. I had someone berate me for defending datacenter water use and their last post was literally a cheese burger.

Well the thing with the livestock is that you have to give a cow water.

Datacenters do not need water. It is just slightly cheaper for them than cooling with electricity.

Datacenters should be required by law to pay to build adequate power generation and infrastructure to pay for their consumption, and ideally in a way where it isn't a ghastly eyesore.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#66

Post by mr_roboto »

dgellow wrote: post #31
thevinter wrote: post #13

Irrespective of how this number is calculated, whether is blue/green water etc here is some comparison data for context, since I personally think that hearing big numbers without any point of reference is pointless. Annual withdrawals (2015) - Thermoelectric power: ~48.5 trillion gal - Irrigation: ~43.1 trillion gal - Public supply: ~14.2 trillion gal - Self-supplied industrial: ~5.4 trillion gal - Aquaculture: ~2.76…

You have to look at the local level, water isn’t distributed the same way around a country as large as the US. Some regions have no water problems while others have a lot of consumption and competition to get access to it

Yeah in a lot of areas water is the opposite of scarce, practically free, and your bill is 98% infrastructure fees.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#67

Post by zug_zug »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #62
zug_zug wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good context, but aren't many of your examples simply putting that water back into the ground? Also, where the water is taken from is the key issue. If this was ocean water nobody would care, but if it's Reston, VA that's a local issue.

I'm not sure what led you to believe that the water is being put back into the ground "simply" or otherwise but maybe you shouldn't be acting like it's a non-issue when you clearly don't understand the problem. DCs are pumping the water through evaporative cooling towers because the latent heat of vaporizaton means there's a huge amount of heat sucked up in the phase change from liquid to vapor. None of the water is…

No I'm saying that water used in mining likely goes back into the ground.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#68

Post by roenxi »

dgellow wrote: post #28
myrmidon wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree. Specifically: If you are anti-datacenter, then the water argument might look appealing to you , but its NOT a good argument, and it makes not only look you like an innumerate idiot, it also negatively impacts adjacent environmental movements/concerns. So don't push it.

It’s more nuanced, the water consumption can be a real local problem. The evaporated water doesn’t necessarily come back to the original source, and if the water supply was already stressed you’re adding even more pressure to it. You have to look about the actual details, like all arguments about resource consumption

Yeah, but the anti-datacentre people won't care about that. That is an issue for local people and specific cases. Myrmidon isn't addressing the comment at people who have actual local issues with water issues; it was advice for the partisans.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#69

Post by everdrive »

thevinter wrote: post #13

Irrespective of how this number is calculated, whether is blue/green water etc here is some comparison data for context, since I personally think that hearing big numbers without any point of reference is pointless. Annual withdrawals (2015) - Thermoelectric power: ~48.5 trillion gal - Irrigation: ~43.1 trillion gal - Public supply: ~14.2 trillion gal - Self-supplied industrial: ~5.4 trillion gal - Aquaculture: ~2.76…

I don't hate data centers any less. That's 17B gallons wasted on something I don't care about and actively want less of.

Re: US data centers tripled annual water consumption to 17B gallons

#70

Post by elil17 »

krunck wrote: post #42

Potable well water should NEVER be used for such purposes. Aquifers recharge at a rate far lower than industry wants to pull from them. At some point potable water for humans will run out. If you're using water just to evaporate it for cooling then use surface water.

Using water for cooling significantly reduces cooling energy use. The decision of whether to use dry, evaporative, or hybrid cooling approaches should be driven by the specific water availability in the area where the cooling process is to be used.

Many regions do have enough water to support evaporative cooling. When water is available, using it is prudent because it saves so much electricity.

Using surface water is not a practical approach for most cases because the process would need to be built next to a river or lake - there is limited industrial real estate in these areas.

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