The massive computer clusters powering artificial intelligence consume vast quantities to answer the world’s queries, but how is Big Tech redressing the balance?

Writing a 100-word email using ChatGPT (GPT-4, latest model) consumes 1 x 500ml bottle of water It uses 140Wh of energy, enough for 7 full charges of an iPhone Pro Max

  • vinnymac@lemmy.worldEnglish
    33·
    1 month ago

    Why does the article make it sound like cooling a data center results in constant water loss? Is this not a closed loop system?

    I’m imagining a giant reservoir heat sink that runs throughout a complex to pull heat out of the surrounding environment where some liquid evaporates and needs to be replenished. But first of all we have more efficient liquid coolants, and second that would be a very lazy solution.

    I wonder if they’ve considered geothermal for new data centers. You can run a geothermal loop in reverse and use the earth as a giant heat sink. It’s not water in the loop, it’s refrigerant, and it only needs to be replaced when you find the efficiency dropping, which can take decades.

    • Munkisquisher@lemmy.nzEnglish
      11·
      1 month ago

      Evaporative coolers save a ton of energy compared to refrigerator cycle closed loop systems. Like a swamp cooler, the hot liquid that comes from cooling the server is exposed to the atmosphere and enough evaporates off to cool the liquid by a decent percentage, then it’s refrigerated before going back into the servers.

      Data centre near me is using it and the fire service is used to be being called by people concerned the huge clouds of water vapor are smoke

    • JPAKx4English
      7·
      1 month ago

      It highly depends on every data center, but it is very likely that they do use municipal water for cooling. Mainting a Reservoir is extremely expensive for the amount of thermal mass it requires, these things kick off HEAT.

      • bobs_monkey@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        1 month ago

        I don’t know why they aren’t using reclaimed water from treatment plants. I don’t see why potable water is necessary as long as the substitute isn’t corrosive, but I might be missing something here.

        • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          1 month ago

          You’d have to get the gray water in, and it’s more efficient to just continue treating it and using the municipal water system.

    • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      1 month ago

      You can run a geothermal loop in reverse and use the earth as a giant heat sink.

      You need something to move the heat away, like water or air. Having something solid that just absorbs will reach its heat capacity pretty quick.

        • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          Deep Geothermal goes deeeeeepppp to where there is a heat source that is replenished.

          Shallow geothermal pulls heat where there is no replenishment, and you have to run it in reverse (use it as an AC in the summer) to swap out the heat. You can’t only pull heat out for shallow geothermal. You may be able to for a time, but also remember that heating for a house is pretty small overall.

          It’s not the entire earth that is the heat sink, it’s a relatively short distance from the pipe. We don’t get the massive heat from the molten core at the surface.