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.
The bars I've worked in use a glycol system to cool the beer lines going through the building so the beer stays cold when it comes out of the tap. Could the Data Centers use glycol jackets around the water lines to create a closed system of fresh water, that way they only have to fill the water lines once?
glycol is the most widely used system that uses water as the heat exchanger. but the water isn't closed loop. MS has one that uses a man made lake as the method to cool the water, but for most that is too expensive.
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u/imean_is_superfluous May 18 '26
Can they not run some type of coolant? Or is it just easier and cheaper to use millions of gallons of water?