The big question that keeps popping up, here, is where does the toxic(?) wastewater from the cooling process go? Second is if they’re getting water from the river, will it cause a more permanent barge issue, since water used in the cooling process mostly evaporates?
I’ve heard one planned in the north Delta is on a former ag field with a couple of irrigation wells on it and will actually use less water than irrigating the field did, but again the water used is mostly evaporated and what’s left isn’t useable, instead of going back into the aquifer to use again.
The ordinance they passed in Birmingham requires a "closed loop" cooling system as one of the requirements for permitting . Will have to do some research on that?
A closed-loop cooling system in a data center is a sealed, self-contained mechanism that continuously recycles a fixed volume of cooling fluid (usually water or a specialized refrigerant) to regulate equipment temperatures. Unlike traditional open-loop evaporative systems that constantly boil off and replenish millions of gallons of municipal water, a closed-loop system is filled just once during construction and experiences near-zero day-to-day fluid consumption
How It WorksThe system acts much like a high-powered household air conditioner or a car's radiator circuit
:Heat Capture: Cold liquid or air is circulated directly past the server chips or server racks via cold plates, absorbing the intense thermal energy.
Transport: The now-heated fluid is pumped through an entirely sealed network of internal pipes away from the IT equipment.
Heat Rejection: The fluid passes through an external heat exchanger or a "dry cooler". Large outdoor fans blow ambient air across the coils to pull the heat out and release it into the atmosphere without any evaporation.
Recirculation: The cooled fluid is pumped straight back to the servers to restart the loop
