I was wondering about this. Why wouldn’t it be closed loop? My buddies and I allegedly built a moonshine still in high school and the coiled pipe or hose coming out the top recondenses the liquid that boils off. Why not do something similar and pump the hot water under snow covered sidewalks to melt them and then send it back to the data center to get heated again once it has lost enough heat?
Generally true and that’s why I often read these articles scratching my head. Make them closed loop! They almost always use chillers…
Water use becomes a concern if the water is moved too far and/or too fast like your Sahara example.
If it’s a closed loop system is there anything better than water that can be used?
Milk :D Build a heat pasteurization plant next to your data center and you can use the server heat for something productive.
I was wondering about this. Why wouldn’t it be closed loop? My buddies and I allegedly built a moonshine still in high school and the coiled pipe or hose coming out the top recondenses the liquid that boils off. Why not do something similar and pump the hot water under snow covered sidewalks to melt them and then send it back to the data center to get heated again once it has lost enough heat?
Evaporative cooling.