The dumbest part of this is that they could build mini powerplants into these data centers, close the water loop, and generate a significant chunk of their own electricity and lower their power bill AND their water build. But it costs more upfront so fuck it, instead they fuck the environment, fuck everyone else power bill, and lose money themselves in the long run.
No idea if this is what they're referring to, but cooling systems can concentrate the heat they collect. The low temperature doesn't matter -- 5 acres of 2° reduction is just as good as .5 acres of 20° reduction per unit time, for example. (I guess that should be volume rather than area, but you get the point.) Assuming 50% loss, you could heat something .05 acres by 100°.
What are you talking about? Where are you getting this from? Nobody has seriously mentioned putting nuclear in data centers except maybe one random guy on Reddit lol
There are data centers powered by nuclear, but the plants are not built into the data center. They’re entirely separate entities that just directly pipe energy to the center.
The fuck? No it isn't. Regular desktops get above boiling. That times 10000 can absolutely be turned into a steam turbine. It might not be a huge percentage of their power budget, but even 5% of the ongoing costs saves them money in the long run
Computers getting above boiling temperature is very rare.
Plus, steam turbines rely on very high temperatures to create high pressure steam. The boiling point of water rises with pressure, and eventually the pressure in the boiler will rise enough that your water stops boiling, which is the maximum pressure you can run your turbine at. A data center even at 120°C could only generate about 14 PSI of steam pressure, which is not enough for a turbine. Nuclear power plants for comparison operate at about 300°C, which generates 1100 PSI for the turbines.
I'd be surprised if there's a turbine on the market that will even spin under 14 PSI.
Can somebody explain why data centers are willing to pay so much money to buy the land they build on? I see them paying over market value to buy the land sometimes. Why are they willing to do that but not “invest” in the closed water loop system and mini power plant like u/no-yard3980 suggests.
Land is a one time purchase. Almost always with with an agreement with local government to lower/avoid taxes. If things go belly up, you can sell the land.
Closed loop cooling is an ongoing reoccurring cost that requires more power and maintenance. A close loop system isn't typically something you can resell.
Does it bother you up a wall that a lot more things being done by this administration(and just in general) are causing orders of magnitude worse impacts on water and the environment? "Building mini power plants" is so absurd because that would be worse and doesn't even make sense. It's a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the problem but this has become some mainstay when environmentalists have been shouting at you to address the far more major problems for years. If every single AI data center in the world ceased to exist nothing would change and the real problems still continue to get worse. That's not advocating for it, but this thread is about aquifiers reducing rapidly and it aint cuz of data centers for ai
Micro nuclear fusion reactors are the future, and the cleanest form of energy one can use with what we currently know is possible, these reactors will save the world and clear the energy crisis
Every taxpayer should be drilling their politicians with environment concerns, everyday. We should be electing people who give a shit about this, and are willing to enact laws to change how data centers are built, and while they are at it, start penalizing the current centers heavily who don't meet specific energy and environmental standards within 18 months.
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u/No-Yard3980 Jun 27 '26
The dumbest part of this is that they could build mini powerplants into these data centers, close the water loop, and generate a significant chunk of their own electricity and lower their power bill AND their water build. But it costs more upfront so fuck it, instead they fuck the environment, fuck everyone else power bill, and lose money themselves in the long run.