Just cause you use water in one place doesn’t mean it’ll come back in the same place.
Comment on How do AI data centers manage to *consume* water, but when I cool my house, my A/C *makes* water?
Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
What I don’t get is how the water is “consumed”, it’s not like it’s gone right? It evaporates and then just comes back down as rain surely?
Same with water consumption of a sweater or a steak.
There probably is some good reason for measuring it like that but conceptually I don’t get it.
Fuckfuckmyfuckingass@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It does though doesn’t it
4am@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
I mean eventually yeah, but not fast enough for you to keep using it that way.
Especially now that air holds more moisture since rising temperatures keep the atmosphere warmer and rain is less frequent.
Ziggurat@jlai.lu 3 weeks ago
This is the complicated part with water consumption, saving water in the Netherlands won’t make rain in Morroco.
However, there is only so many rain water stored in the ground at a given time and brought by the rivers. This water need to be used mostly for agriculture, then human consumption, and finally industry. Once it’s back in the cloud we don’t fully know where it will fall again, let alone if it’s polluted.
Sure it’s a renewable ressource, the problem start when you the water faster than the rate at which it renews, especially during summer. In Europe the problem will be even worse with the global warming. The alpine glacier are disappearing meaning that we’ll loose a major water reserve for summer
SirActionSack@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Most people are not directly collecting rain to drink.
Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yea we are
cRazi_man@europe.pub 3 weeks ago
Even though there is loads and loads of water on the planet, the amount of fresh/drinkable/usable/accessible water is tiny. This water evaporates and rains back down, but this will most likely fall over the ocean, or on land and go I to the ground, or into some other unusable area/form.
Water suitable for human use is a scarce commodity and needs to be preserved. Of all the water lost to the atmosphere from server cooling systems, almost none of it can be recaptured again.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
Why are they not using a closed loop system with condensers collecting the evaporated water?
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’ll give you one gue$$
SaltSong@startrek.website 3 weeks ago
A condenser will generate the same amount of heat that they are trying to dissipate.
Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Collect and condense the hot water vapor, concentrate the heat until you’ve got steam; then pump it through a steam turbine recapturing that energy as electricity.
I’m sure there’s some difficulties and nuances I’m not seeing right away, but it would be nice to see some sort of system like this. Most power plants generate heat, then turn that into electricity. Data centers take electricity and turn it back into heat. There’s gotta be a way to combine the two concepts.
zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Actually more because thermodynamics is a cruel mistress.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
A condenser can be as simple as a glass dome in a cool room. There is no need for any electricity or heat.
BussyCat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Because if it’s a closed loop then the heat doesn’t leave the system so at some point you need to open the system. Your options for getting heat to actually leave the system are: evaporate water, air coolers (not efficient with large systems or in warm climate), or water coolers.
The water coolers sound good but then you are heating up a local water supply which can kill a bunch of local wildlife
Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Hadley cells bring them inland does it not where it condenses and rains flowing back towards the ocean where it again evaporates and travels inland rains and goes back to the ocean.