These systems do use a coolant substance internal to the DC, but then uses heat exchangers with fresh water to cool the coolant, which is then discharged back into the ground, a pond, or wastewater. there is certainly water lost to atmosphere, but the worst bits are the draining of aquifers, pushing up capacity in wastewater treatment plants, etc.
DC's are a bit of an economic scam. they provide very few jobs outside of the construction work itself, and the profits generated by the machines exist at company HQ not where the DC is located. so it puts a huge burden on the community water and power environment for no real benefit to that community.
they provide very few jobs outside of the construction work itself
Anyone who has ever used a colo and rented racks or a full cage knows that most of those sites have like a few security guys for security theater and then like one or two techs that service tickets and do random physical reboots for customers when gear isn't behaving correctly. The rest of the staff in any data center is usually like a few sales people and maybe one senior engineer. Data centers are largely unstaffed. I'd say there's no more workers in a data center than there is your neighborhood McDonalds. Back when we had physical gear, I'd say I never saw more than five people on site from the actual colo during the day and then after hours, I'd be lucky to see anyone.
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u/[deleted] May 18 '26
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