Data Centers Work To Reduce Water Usage

miller60 writes "As data centers get larger, they are getting thirstier as well. A large server farm can use up to 360,000 gallons of water a day in its cooling systems, a trend that has data center operators looking at ways to reduce their water use and impact on local water utilities. Google says two of its data centers now are "water self-sufficient." The company has built a water treatment plant at its new facility in Belgium, allowing the data center to rely on water from a nearby industrial canal. Microsoft chose San Antonio for a huge data center so it could use the local utility's recycled water ('gray water') service for the 8 million gallons it will use each month."

If they would just

[geekoid]

fill the data centers with mineral oil, their heating problems would be solved~

let me get this straight

[fred fleenblat]

So, theoretically, through the use of evaporative cooling at large data centers, local humidity could rise, and...cloud computing could produce actual clouds?

Re:Idea

[Walt Dismal]

It is a scientific fact that the blood of H1B workers makes a far better cooling material than water. As soon as CEOs realize this, several problems will be solved. Better and cheaper outsourced cooling, fatter wallets for politicians, and far better code.

My vision for the future

[noidentity]

I envision a future where instead of our computers being powered by water wheels and turbines, they are powered by electricity. Don't dismiss my idea out of hand! It will take lots of work, but I believe we can harness the power of the electron and eliminate this massive waste of water in the long term.

Re:sooooo ?

[plover]

<Sarcasm> Yeah because there is a huge IT workforce in the Arctic and lots of others who want to move there from someplace like California. </Sarcasm>

So what? You get a couple of Inuit electricians to run cables for you and drive the forklifts. The rest of the work is done over the tubes. At that point, it's JBOC -- Just a Building full Of Computers.

The best bet is to put it as close to its energy sources as possible, in the least humanly desirable geographic location -- siting it on a reclaimed Superfund dump in the middle of the Arctic next to an oil well and refinery sounds pretty effective to me.

Note to self:

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft chose San Antonio for a huge data center so it could use the local utility's recycled water ('gray water') service for the 8 million gallons it will use each month."

Note to self: In the event that I ever have the opportunity to tour Google or Microsoft, do not use the drinking fountains.

Re:Idea

[Anonymous Coward]

The water is going nowhere. There's just as much now as there was 4.5 billion years ago.

Tell that to Mars.