mesaMar 31

Data centers are creating ‘heat islands’ and warming the land around them by up to 16 degrees | CNN

The vast data centers that power artificial intelligence are so energy hungry that they’re heating up their surroundings, according to new research. It’s an alarming finding given the number of data centers is predicted to explode over the next few years.

Scientists have found an alarming environmental impact of vast data centers

The vast data centers that power artificial intelligence are so energy hungry that they’re heating up their surroundings, according to new research. It’s an alarming finding given the number of data centers is predicted to explode over the next few years.

CNN
Show threadKongarMar 31

Years ago, I was driving through NY city-ish. We pulled over in a rest area and I saw a sign about turning your engine off. I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever seen, as did many other people apparently as their cars were idling. Then I got out of my car. I was wrong. The heat was insane. I couldn’t wrap my little head around it. I started doing the engineer math thing because it didn’t make sense.

Doesn’t surprise me at all these massive data centers are creating little heat domes. The cars were bad enough, and they are a fraction of the energy.

Show threadKairosMar 31
100% of electricity burned turns to heat save light that leaves earth. Gigawatt data center? That’s ~650,000 1500w space heaters.
Show threadexpatriadoMar 31
i work for a large power company, we have a data center customer that have as many equally sized cooling towers as one of our nuclear power plants.
Show threadtehn00biMar 31
Pretty soon you’ll just have nuclear plants just to power data centers.
Show threadCethin
You’ll need the same number of cooling towers for the computers too. All the energy created by the reactor will turn into heat, essentially doubling the amount of cooling needed.
Apr 1 at 9:23amWeb
Show threadNaiaApr 1
I don’t know why they don’t use geothermal cooling, especially with the footprint these things have. Compared to everything else it wouldn’t increase the cost that much, depending on how they do it, and even if it didn’t cover all the cooling needs it would cut down a lot of it.
Show threadCethinApr 2
I have no idea, but I suspect geothermal cooling doesn’t work as well at this scale. I suspect heat in the ground spreads far slower than the air moves. Since these are running 24/7, this means it’ll reach an elevated equilibrium temperature that will be higher than if a residential house did it. I guess if the footprint is large enough it’d be fine, but that’s probably really expensive.