Does a data centre actually pollute or dirty the water when used to cool it’s stuff?
Could it not just take the water, run it through the system, heat the water a little bit to cool the stuff it needs, then run the water back into the city lines which might even save people a few cents on the water heating bills?
heat the water a little bit to cool the stuff it needs
No. Heating the water a little bit would not be sufficient at cooling what the datacenters need to cool. You have to heat the water a whole hell of a lot.
Honestly question though …
Does a data centre actually pollute or dirty the water when used to cool it’s stuff?
Could it not just take the water, run it through the system, heat the water a little bit to cool the stuff it needs, then run the water back into the city lines which might even save people a few cents on the water heating bills?
I was wondering the same thing. Turns out thermal pollution is a thing. They would heat a lake at that rate.
There are ways to cool water and recycle it. If they are using that much water, I bet they cannot cycle water because it wouldn’t cool fast enough.
No. Heating the water a little bit would not be sufficient at cooling what the datacenters need to cool. You have to heat the water a whole hell of a lot.
Well, yes it wouldn’t heat it a “little bit” at the source but once added back into the system the average increase would probably be a “little bit”.
This could have been amazing if integrated into a district heating network.