This will help fighting the global colding we've had going on… wait, something's off. Am I reading the charts upside down again?
this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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It's the secret government weather weapon they were talking about! It is real!
Once again I am shocked that you always have these big ass heat exchangers on these data centers but no talk of even trying to use some of the waste heat to offset the power use.
Typical waste in the USA. I believe Sweden or Finland pump the heat out for residential use.
I don't think the main problem of Phoenix is the lack of heating
They could boil seawater, condense the steam into drinking water
its more expensive since you will need to deal with corrosion and heat degrading the equipment overtime.
They are wasteful on purpose. they could have closed circuit cooling systems where they condense the water from the vapor and reuse it. But they are a giant middle finger to all of us.
Water is cheaper to waste than electricity unfortunately.
Pretty sure most modern data centers are using closed loop cooling or refrigeration. Not evaporative cooling.
You can't condense the water either that would defeat the point of evaporating it in the first place. Closed loop liquid cooling does not involve boiling or evaporation. You are just pumping a liquid around a circuit. It's not just water either it's more like a car antifreeze.
Got any info to back that up? Here’s a screenshot from page 39 of the US Data Center Energy Usage Report, which shows the use of closed loop systems (which they call dry cooling) as one of the smallest percentages of cooling types used. Pretty sure you’ve got it completely backwards on the types of cooling used, and I know for a fact the massive Amazon data center out in Oregon uses evaporative, because you can’t drink the water there as a result.
Why would they call closed loop liquid cooling "dry cooling"? Unless they explicitly said that then I don't believe you to be honest.
Evaporative cooling wouldn't make the water undrinkable unless something has gone very wrong. So I don't think what you are saying about Oregan is true either.
This is also only representative of the USA, not worldwide. I get that much of the world doesn't have many datacenters compared to the USA, but you at least have to include China and the EU.
The laws of thermodynamics? Can't create or destroy energy and overall entropy increases over time. A closed loop (or any cooling system) just moves heat away from the hot thing. So yes, they can be used as much as any other cooling system but it won't stop the issue of "generating lots of heat". That heat still needs to go somewhere. Dumping it into the atmosphere might be the best option if there's nothing in the area that needs heat. Should probably build them next to steel plants or something like that. Then a closed loop would be better.
I never said it fixed the issue of generating heat. Heat isn't really a major problem as far as I am concerned. I thought we were talking about water use.
Fair enough, I thought we were talking about the heat lol.
? OP was claiming that the majority of data centers use closed loop/refrigeration systems and I was pointing out that US data shows the vast majority use evaporative cooling. They posted a few comments pushing that idea which is why I refuted that. I’m not sure what the point you’re trying to make is in regards to those two statements. I’m not disputing the accuracy of what you’re saying, just unsure of where you’re going with it.
Thought your request to back it up was in response to the parent comment saying that condensing the water defeats the purpose rather than the first paragraph.
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Some people making datacenter looks into way to recycle the extra heat, some uses it to heat local area (willingly). But all of this costs more than just, dumping it out, I guess.
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Not only that... but Lake Tahoe is being abandoned by their power company to power data centers because its more profitable.
https://fortune.com/2026/05/12/lake-tahoe-data-center-49000-residents-power-source/
How is that even allowed
Free market economy. You could technically do similar with nordpool. Set up a ridiculous power consumer and watch everyone's prices go up.
I don't know, but it sets a dangerous precedent.
It doesn't set a precedent at all. It's always been like this.
Now just more people are being effected by it and in places that people actually give a fuck about. So it's news now.
Mind throwing out a source? Having some trouble searching for other places that have experienced this kinda thing, with how fucked search has gotten. All I can find are articles about company towns, which don't feel like what you're referring to.
Its a travesty, but in that case a little more strange. The blame is not just on the power company but also the local government, the company was bought in 2009 and told the community it would be winding down providing power in the area. The local government got a few extensions but now they have "better" customers they are not going to give them any more. So for many years the area knew it had this issue to deal with but like a lot of americans just sat on their asses and said nothing could be done.
As to why this is allowed, simple, it is a power company existing in a system where profit is the sole factor in anything.
2009 was 17 years ago, they had so much time
I think part of the issue is they did not really try, it looks like they just assumed things would stay the same. The other part is how would they get another provider? I assume they could get one but for how much more?
That's fucking WILD
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I do not understand how people still live there.
"Data centers are inherently an important part of our society, and they're going to become even more necessary going forward,"
God, fuck this shit
Right?
Like, says who and on what historical basis? People said similar shit about crypto and we all know how that turned out.
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