Apparently data centers routinely burn through water at a rate of about 1.9 liters per KWh of energy spent computing. Yet I can 🎮 HARDCORE GAME 🎮 on my hundreds-of-watts GPU for several hours, without pouring any of my Mountain Dew into the computer? Even if the PC is water cooled, the water cooling water stays in the computer, except for exceptional circumstances.

Meanwhile, water comes out of my A/C unit and makes the ground around it all muddy.

How am I running circles around the water efficiency of a huge AI data center, with an overall negative water consumption?

  • Thoath@leminal.space
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    6 days ago

    taps the fact that electricity is a steam reaction and even if you don’t see it, the electricity you’re using is made by decompressing water into vapor, whether by burning coal through turbines/boiled wind from water sources creating wind power/ even nuclear reactors are often a boiling water reaction going through turbines, creating a net loss of ‘water’ if we don’t have natural condensation utilities to convert ‘air’

    • lime!@feddit.nu
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      6 days ago

      that water usually goes through a heat exchanger in a closed loop. there’s a reason most power plants are built by lakes.

      also, explain “boiled wind”?

      • Thoath@leminal.space
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        5 days ago

        If it’s truly a closed loop, why do you need a lake, a true closed loop has zero need for local water sources, else there’s some sort of negative that they’re compensating for which, in case of local water sources, there’s not enough infrastructure if any of that water OR HEAT leaves the system faster than it enters

      • Thoath@leminal.space
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        5 days ago

        Water exchange above large bodies of water causes thermal dynamic exchanges deliberating speeds of wind currents

          • Thoath@leminal.space
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            5 days ago

            Yeah because you’ve measured the water intake and export of every large body of water I forgot you’re obviously an expert who knows how to read when a data center takes more water than a town, love your stern optimism, maybe like, wander off somewhere else so you feel important in your views, because it ain’t with me here bud

            • lime!@feddit.nu
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              5 days ago

              no, you obviously don’t want people to talk to you. that’s fair.

    • Thoath@leminal.space
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      6 days ago

      The water is for sure going up there with help, it won’t come back down without help in equal measure, it’s dynamics are completely spun out