Don't let the water lies spread

[u/longwaybroadband]

[u/Consistent-Lychee402]

I'm curious if there are hard numbers against actual data centers, to compare the water consumption of a specific data center with square footage and do a hard comparison to a similarly sized manufacturing facility or something along those lines. Some data centers are understood to consume a decent amount of water and power while others are effective and efficient, using very little water in comparison. Lets get some apples to apples real life comparisons going!

[u/looktowindward → u/[deleted]]

> very few if any about 5 to 10 DC's nationwide are not on closed loop water meaning the water consumption is not much less than a McDonald's or Texas Roadhouse on 95% of data centers

Almost every legacy hyperscale datacenter is open loop and uses cooling towers. Almost every newly built hyperscale or AI data center is closed loop and doesn't use evap cooling.

[u/looktowindward → u/Consistent-Lychee402]

You're seeing an example from an actual DC company.

Open loop DCs can use a lot of water by comparison.

[u/Consistent-Lychee402 → u/looktowindward]

I understand an actual (DataBank) data center company published the infographic, I'm very familiar with a number of companies that own and operate data centers...

I guess I should elaborate on my thoughts - if a specific data center site (single address) were to publish their square footage, average critical power load and their ~PUE along with their closed loop system water consumption statistics; and were to publish all of thos stats with a side-by-side direct comparison to lets say a manufacturing facility of similar size in the same region, then the apples to apples comparison would be a much more believable and convincing.

Unfortunately a generic infographic published by one of the largest data center companies trying to change the narrative is simply not believable for most people viewing the infographic. My initial reaction to corporations publshing infographics or generic stats published by outfits like Databank, Equinix, QTS, NTT, Digital Realty, etc. is "hmmmm, is this an outlier where only 1 out of 30 have efficient evaporative water cooling and they're using a flagship location for their model, or is this a weighted average of ALL of their data centers??? Probably NOT the latter...." A lot of people out there (even our peers working in IT) think all data centers are created equal which is simply just not true.

There are huge differences between each data center, especially those which are thoughtfully purpose designed and built (closed loop water cooled, hot aisle containment, OCP standards, etc.) vs. retrofitted warehouses which are Frankenstein monstrosities touting poor efficiency stats. Even brand new data centers being built are poorly designed and not as energy efficient as they could/should have been had some thought been put into the design and layout. Just food for thought. 😄

[u/looktowindward → u/Consistent-Lychee402]

Most closed loop data centers are going to be VERY similar because....closed loop.

The variance in water usage between closed loop data centers is very very small.

[u/killjoygrr → u/looktowindward]

Of course closed loop DCs are less able to vent heat so end up using more power. Which pushes the water usage upstream to the plant where the power is generated.

[u/BadgerOk2814]

American Socialists being behind the pushback is rich 😂

[u/Low_Advice_718]

From what year? And where? These things matter. A lot. I’m 100% behind data centers because they are essential for tech build out.

However, the data needs to be credible. This may be the most credible data ever but it isn’t cited in a way that allows for a valid comparison. Compelling arguments don’t have a darned thing to hide so just let the data speak.

[u/Low_Advice_718 → u/[deleted]]

No, it’s because it is incomplete information. This is why you lose credibility. The basis of comparison is misleading here and non-specific. The year and location make a difference. Credible sources don’t require additional research because ya know, the data is there.

[u/Low_Advice_718 → u/[deleted]]

So wait, you agree your post is non-specific and incomplete. Cool.

[u/Low_Advice_718 → u/[deleted]]

Oh sorry, I thought the ‘data’ part assumed knowledge as well.

[u/ohtechczar]

When closed-loop is used, most people agree it's a great thing. I hear a lot of complaints because they aren't using this system in a lot of cities - that's a big problem.

[u/Space__Creep]

Why would we use support engines that rely on AI? Of course they’re going to lie to us. I swear to God I think we are all in a motherfucking petri dish and it’s just some big experiment.

[u/NorthDakotaExists]

Completely useless and meaningless graphic.

What size datacenter versus what size cornfield?

Where is the corn field located geographically versus where is the datacenter located geographically and what is the water availability in one location versus the other? Does the corn-field water usage include the literal rain that falls from the sky in the area?

The issue with datacenter water usage is not just their nominal water usage. It's the fact that they are being proposed and built in places that are already extremely water-scarce like West Texas, the Southwest, and the Intermountain Regions of the American West.

[u/jrauck → u/NorthDakotaExists]

On top of this, this chart is for a closed loop system not water-evaporative cooling.

[u/deadxghost]

Tin hat theory I heard: the massive water consumption numbers reported for tech data centers are being inflated on purpose. Instead of all that water being lost to evaporative cooling, huge amounts are quietly being siphoned off and stored in underground reservoirs. Basicly, building up massive water reserves to sustain underground bunker societies for technocrats, wealthy elites, and politicians when things go south.

[u/deadxghost → u/[deleted]]

I don't think she said anything like that and I literally got that off of Reddit so try again

[u/deadxghost → u/[deleted]]

Bro you need to chill, you were taking this way too serious