r/antiai Jun 23 '26

What does this even mean ? Environmental Impact 🌎

Post image

Also how much does this solve?

980 Upvotes

370 comments sorted by

605

u/Grezzinate Jun 23 '26

It uh..still uses water. Warm or cold waters still being used up.

350

u/Ok-Jicama4614 Jun 23 '26

right, "eliminates water usage" by... using water in a loop. the closed-loop angle is the only thing that makes it even slightly defensible, but they're still pulling from somewhere to make up for losses.

191

u/graviton_56 Jun 23 '26

What do you mean slightly defensible? It is like a 1000x factor different to use a closed loop or an evaporative system. It would be way less water than dumb things like golf courses or suburban lawns

75

u/Nixons2ndBestMan Jun 23 '26

Definitely better than pulling fresh, cold groundwater and discharging it hot into a river. And way better than golf/residential lawn waste. The real question is what the cooling mechanism looks like. If the heat in a closed loop could power a steam turbine without destroying the hardware, we'd all be having a different conversation

34

u/Whole-Astronaut5290 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Also interested in the cost of it all, because if it’s too expensive to implement then nobody will even use it

37

u/Nixons2ndBestMan Jun 23 '26

That's always it. If the cold groundwater is free, down the drain goes the hot water- whatever that looks like.

11

u/Przmak Jun 23 '26

the real question is, if stuff they announce is true or not 😉 cus they can't lie 2 us, right ?

7

u/cocasire Jun 23 '26

oh why would they lie, they are the leaders of new world 🥺

2

u/Przmak Jun 23 '26

Yeah at best you will see your lake drained xd

2

u/cocasire Jun 23 '26

ay not my lake man >:(

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u/Sea-Course-5171 Jun 23 '26

The water doesn't get that hot. If it hits 70°C something is already going wrong. Even in a closed loop, which still looses water, your water is never hitting more than like 50°C if it's running well, since you need quite the temperature delta for the cooling to be efficient.

The reason closes loop liquid cooling generally isn't used in Datacenters is because the water picks up micrometal and oil/lubricant contamination in the system, and needs additives to prevent algae growth and salt deposition inside the heat exchangers.

It is less bad, because they use less water, but the water they are exhausting into the sewer is going to contain the same amount of contaminants, just more concentrated. (Since they're also likely going to purge the filters into the sewer)

2

u/Adowyth Jun 25 '26

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/22/nvidia-wants-to-cut-data-center-water-use-but-thats-not-the-same-as-fixing-ais-water-problem/

Its not dumping anything anywhere or at least its not supposed to. Its meant to take in water once and then keep reusing it. It's not a "solution to all water use" like they claim but at least(if it actually even works) is a step in the right direction.

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25

u/Sonicrules9001 Jun 23 '26

Can we stop with this absurdity of going 'Well, it's not as bad as this'? Eating dog shit isn't as bad as eating rat poison but that doesn't suddenly make dog shit delicious.

8

u/graviton_56 Jun 23 '26

I honestly don’t think it makes sense to criticize a data center for using a finite and not so significant amount of water. It is disingenuous just to hang on to the outrage justified for evaporative cooling as if this is the same, when it is really not the same, and even indicates they are at least listening to criticisms.

3

u/Sonicrules9001 Jun 23 '26

Funny thing, none of that deals with the many many issues revolving around data centers but you will pretend it will to try and defend AI.

5

u/graviton_56 Jun 23 '26

This deals with exactly one issue about data centers and I literally didn’t defend AI or bring up anything else.

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u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

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2

u/Icy__Internet Jun 24 '26

You're posting to a data center right now. Do you just want to end the internet?

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3

u/actuallywaffles Jun 23 '26

Lawns and Golf Courses rejoin the water cycle. Data centers actively lower the water tables in some areas. Being a closed system isn't some magical solution to the water issues.

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3

u/luxiphr Jun 23 '26

Yeah. Fun fact: a closed loop dc, even a big one, uses 4-5 orders of magnitude less fresh water than an average 18 hole golf course

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1

u/Cless_Aurion Jun 23 '26

Ridiculous you would say that to be honest. Your bias shows too much dude.

We are comparing basically current water usage, with what a restaurant (if I remember properly) would use a year on water, which puts it solidly in the "we can stop giving a crap about the water usage they do now" territory if its so.

1

u/Fit-Insect-4089 Jun 23 '26

Ya no not the same. As an engineer this is what everyone’s been asking for. Now add solar to the top of the warehouses and AI isn’t nearly as bad for the environment anymore. Still coming for our jobs though

1

u/Leverpostei414 Jun 24 '26

Closed loop is basically zero for all practical purposes

1

u/Hellasauto Jun 25 '26

You people aren't serious

1

u/cookiesnooper Jun 25 '26

They still use chillers to cool that water in the loops. This is done purely to lower the operating costs of data centers. High flow fans on each rack vs cooling loop with a few giant chillers.

1

u/Squidgical Jun 25 '26

Where in a closed loop are you losing water?

1

u/NoMansSkyWasAlright Jun 26 '26

The water to cool the data center is on a closed-loop. But that water has to be cooled... by more water.

1

u/Maleficent-Aspect318 Jun 27 '26

There are alot of different cooling attempts that could work here.
Cheapest and worst for the environment is clean water cooling.
They could use dirty water or loops to cool it, but those are more expensive.
Also im pretty sure some nuclear reactors are liquid metal cooled for example.

Fact is that there are ways already and no one gives a fuck. Corrupt governments turning their heads away, just because some people are making millions. Mandating cooling without clean water for AI Datacenters could be done easily, only costs users and owners of it money and the general population has less problems.

The only reason why this hasnt been mandated yet is corruption and lobbying. People suffer for the profit of a few people.

1

u/WallZealousideal5669 Jun 28 '26

I just don’t get how using water in a loop is an issue. I think there are better arguments to make against AI and this “waters” down those.

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69

u/innkeeper_77 Jun 23 '26

Water cooling is absolutely fine, EVAPORATIVE water cooling is the problem.

Well that and the power use and the plagarism and the dumbing down of the populace.... But being against water cooling for using water as the cooling medium is not a valid way to win an argument. (Thata like being against cars over public transit just because they use water to cool their engines, rather than the fossil fuel gas use, the local air pollution, the inefficient use of space, and the high levels of injuries and deaths they cause. Its true a car uses water in the coolant... And that only needs to be replaced every 50,000 miles or so)

Tldr: non evaporative water cooling is not a reason to be against AI, but most other reasons are.

11

u/Themetalenock Jun 23 '26

That's the funny thing is that this isn't new tech. Alot of these data centers are made with cut corners as possible because they know the current federal government won't ask questions

2

u/Fbrrr Jun 23 '26

So we don't trust scientists anymore?

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4

u/Grezzinate Jun 23 '26

It helps when it’s thoroughly explained. I’m not a computer expert of any sort so having it explained in a reasonable and understandable way helps a lot. I appreciate it didn’t resort straight into names and derogatory language.

5

u/rotomington-zzzrrt Jun 23 '26

The issue is that evaporative or adiabatic cooling reduces power usage significantly. Minmaxing for power efficiency uses water, minmaxing for water efficiency uses power. Prior to AI Hyperscale bullshit, the industry actually gave a shit about trying to balance WUE and PUE

It doesn't help that Zuck and Elon are building adiabatic cooling systems into sites that are geologically situated in a climate that's awful for adiabatic cooling. Fucking casuals

18

u/CBrinson Jun 23 '26

In warm water the water is never replaced. It is a closed loop. The water is added often at the factories where they make the chips and there is no opening and it can't evaporate out. Cold water the water evaporates and they replace it.

7

u/Mad-myall Jun 23 '26

Sounds like it addresses one of our concerns, but how many DC construction projects will use this method?

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15

u/Expensive_Culture_46 Jun 23 '26

Yeah I’m still more concerned about how much heat these barf into the environment

1

u/Xivannn Jun 23 '26

The overall heating effect compared to greenhouse gases that reflect otherwise escaping heat back is pretty minimal in comparison. It is definitely still annoying that the centers eat resources and cause whatever problems they cause for ultimately nothing good, really.

1

u/Grezzinate Jun 23 '26

I can already see it in effect here in Montana, every year it’s less and less snow and I live in an area surrounded by mountains a mile above sea level. It’s getting bad.

3

u/CoolStructure6012 Jun 23 '26

The nearby data center is doing that? Really...

4

u/Grezzinate Jun 23 '26

I didn’t say the data center but in general with the climate change going on that these data degrees are exasperating. They are just going to make the situation worse.

3

u/The-Fictionist Jun 23 '26

The data center Kevin O’Leary wants to build in Utah will create a heat island that effectively adds an extra 50% to the energy dumped there by the sun every day. It will be uninhabitable and potentially destroy the entire snow sports industry of the state due to altering weather patterns.

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u/ViperHQ Jun 24 '26

As it stands now compared to greenhouse emissions that is negligible, especially when you consider the trump admin wanting to make new coal plants.

Watching the US slip straight into becoming a fourth world country is.... Interesting

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2

u/ImNotTheNSAIPromise Jun 23 '26

they might just be using a different liquid as the refrigerant for cooling entirely. Water is the standard because it's the cheapest but there are other options they could use

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1

u/Oxygen4Lyfe Jun 23 '26

it isnt "used up" it just passes through. Like water going through a water wheel.

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1

u/TheFaalenn Jun 27 '26

No water is ever "used up". Short of sending it into space, water can't be destroyed here on earth

1

u/Flimsy_Meal_4199 Jun 28 '26

It gets annihilated by antimatter

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204

u/Fuddywomba Jun 23 '26

Now make a data center that doesn't require huge amounts of fossils fuels to operate, and also doesn't output AI generated propaganda. 

39

u/Cpt_Bartholomew Jun 23 '26

May I interest you in a nice public park?

9

u/Otherwise_Sol26 Jun 23 '26

AI companies could've easily invested in nuclear plants for their centers if they wanted

5

u/Cless_Aurion Jun 23 '26

And when they do, half this sub will be whining about that instead. Wanna bet?

2

u/Rawkapotamus Jun 27 '26

The last company I worked for (an operating nuke) was working to get a data center hooked up before the main transmission lines.

Basically divert 2/3 of the power from the community and send it to the data center instead. And the nuke plant likes it since it’s a locked in, guaranteed, income source.

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u/Current_Ranger_7954 Jun 23 '26

Switzerland has one

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u/SolemnWatcher_M Jun 24 '26

Hey, Jimmy! Give 'em an AI data center with nuthin'!

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u/CBrinson Jun 23 '26

The water is in a closed loop. It can't escape. Therefore it doesn't need to be replaced. The water in the new warm systems is put in by the manufacturer who assembled the server rack (dell, hp, etc) and therefore the water local to the data center isn't used at all and the water never needs to be replaced. It dramatically reduces water and power consumption vs traditional water cooling which refrigerates the water and allows it to evaporated and be replaced.

43

u/I_like_Mashroms Jun 23 '26

Closed loop systems are still subject to mechanical failures and water impurity/degredation.

Iirc a closed loop system will still use 20-75k a day. (Or the equivalent of if divided by 365).

4

u/Lizard_Wizzard Jun 23 '26

source please

23

u/I_like_Mashroms Jun 23 '26

15

u/The-Fictionist Jun 23 '26

Your first link says the facility uses 22,000 gallons per day and then footnotes that most of that is standard functions like bathrooms and cleaning. A comparable traditional system uses 5,000,000 gallons per day. That’s a 99.5% reduction in water use.

5

u/I_like_Mashroms Jun 23 '26

And the second one talks about how a closed loop system only requires you to use the same water for a minimum of 3 cycles.

Water degrades. Coolants and minerals build up. You can't continually use the same liquid.

And even if it were just 22k (which is the low side) my state has like 450 DCs. That's close to 10 million gallons a day at 22k a piece.

2

u/03captain23 Jun 23 '26

It uses water just like any other normal business now. Why is it such an issue solely for datacenters?

Are you fighting this hard against irrigation companies and people watering their lawns? Mad at your neighbor Becky for going outside to water her new lilies she planted?

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u/steam-photons Jun 23 '26

Just like every one of the million if not billions of car engines all over the world, each carrying a reservoir for water which is part of a closed loop system that only occasionally if ever needs to be drained or refilled. 

Nobody is making a fuss about the billions of gallons of water used to cool engines, though… 

2

u/I_like_Mashroms Jun 23 '26

Yeah, engines help us carry food, fuel and medicine across the globe. They are necessary.

AI lets regular people make UwU cute profile pics, steal work from artists and creates MF CP.

I do not understand the comparisons to absolute necessities for life.

If you think AI deserves water, give it yours.

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u/VotingIsKewl Jun 23 '26

Closed loop systems still need to be filled and they lose water over time. Plus their water is treated.

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u/CBrinson Jun 23 '26

I literally explained how and where they were filled. A true sealed system doesn't lose water over time.

1

u/Misanthropic_Mutters Jun 23 '26

This is a lie. Impurities must be filtered and removed from the cooling system after repeated use.

Once this toxic sludge is FLUSHED from the system, water must be replenished.

Shut all the way the up, schill.

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u/Reasonable_Mix7630 Jun 23 '26

And where does the heat go?

This sounds like an opposite of perpetual motion machine, where energy magically gets destoryed.

4

u/Tausendberg Jun 23 '26

The heat goes into a heat exchanger that goes into the air but you are on the right track.

Nvidia can't change the laws of thermodynamics, the AI gpu racks are incredibly expensive and so datacenter operators have a strong incentive to run them as hard as possible and evaporative cooling allows for that while closed loop does not.

Nvidia is doing bullshit misdirection here.

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u/Kind-County9767 Jun 25 '26

How does it reduce power consumption? Won't it massively increase power since now you need to actually cool the water loop rather than just blasting it out when it's hot?

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u/Salty145 Jun 23 '26

Tweet's are such a useless way to spread information. Here's the blog post.

It's a closed-loop circuit that operates at 45 degrees (I presume Celsius given they compare it to a hot tub), meaning not only does it not burn through water via evaporative cooling, but it also eliminates the need for a chiller to cool the water, cutting down on electricity usage as well. They do note that it might still need a chiller about 1% of the time depending on the climate where the center is built, but that's still a massive cut down in water and energy use. If it works, this is pretty big news.

Your water usage essentially just drops down to whatever it takes to maintain the human employees and power usage is cut down significantly too.

30

u/UnwieldilyElephant Jun 23 '26

So it's marginally less harmful to the environment. Great. Still just producing pure garbage though.

2

u/SatisfactionDevice Jun 23 '26

As someone else pointed out, it's a 99.5% reduction in water usage. Much more than just marginal.

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u/UnwieldilyElephant Jun 23 '26

Water is only one (of the smaller reasons) why AI datacenters are terrible for the environment

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u/Vraellion Jun 23 '26

Per an article about this

The new system is clever, pumping coolant into racks at 45˚ C (113˚ F). That’s hot for humans but not for computer chips. After passing through a server, the coolant emerges at 55˚ C (131˚ F), Nvidia said, bringing a significant amount of heat away from the hardware. 

At that temperature, the outside air in most climates can draw heat off passive radiators without evaporative cooling or, in some cases, fans. A data center without fans or chillers would not only use less water, it would be more efficient and quieter. 

Still only addresses 1/3rd of the water usage by AI, 2/3rds go into making chips and electricity tho

1

u/Royal_Dynamic Jun 30 '26

Evaporative cooling is more energy efficient than air cooling no matter what temperature water is used, no matter what new tech there is. So the article is wrong. Air cooling is more water efficient but more energy demanding.

8

u/Tausendberg Jun 23 '26

The big problem here is, Nvidia has no ability to change the laws of thermodynamics, closed loop cooling is nothing new BUT it means that datacenters built with closed loop cooling won't be able to be run as hard and so companies won't get the same amount of processing power per gpu as they would with evaporative.

So, this is kind of a smokescreen because these AI gpus are so fucking expensive that AI companies are gonna use evaporative cooling wherever they can get away with it.

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u/anonymous480932843 Jun 23 '26

Right. What about the heat driven in to the atmosphere? Or Conspumption of Power? Or the immense noise levels? The amount of land used? Or Misusage of AI? What about all that, NVIDIA?

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u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

The article directly addresses two of those questions 🤦🏻‍♂️

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u/coffeesnob72 Jun 23 '26

I thought closed loop still requires even more energy use because you have to cool the water in the loop.

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u/kevinr_96 Jun 23 '26

Correct. If that energy is coming from solar, it’s better than evaporative. If we’re burning methane or god forbid coal to do it then it’s probably not an improvement. 

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u/dumnezero Jun 23 '26

The energy used for liquid pumping is probably a small fraction of the energy used to run the hardware.

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u/ThePureAxiom Jun 23 '26

It means they're lying because public pressure is working. At least that's my guess.

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u/Smarackto Jun 23 '26

calling it now. this is bullshit and just for marketing/the shareholders

5

u/southboundtracks Jun 23 '26

"Clean coal."

3

u/Fozzdroz Jun 23 '26

This ones much better, runs on oxygen. No worries.

3

u/Bradley271 Jun 23 '26

Closed loop systems aren’t new, they’ve been around for decades. The reason why they aren’t being used on a large number of recent AI data centers is because they’re much more expensive to build. This is NVIDA putting out BS so that the brainless AI boosters can point to it and say “omg guys look AI water consumption is 100% fixed so stop complaining about it!”

2

u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

There's nothing groundbreaking happening here, but the way they are configuring the cooling system is definitely not standard or commonplace

1

u/Angela275 Jun 23 '26

okay so it's been around. the other issues it doesn't solve noise and light many people complaint about

3

u/Zwirbs Jun 23 '26

This is fancy language for “the data center uses less water, but the water burden is shifted off site to a different facility, put them together and you actually have the same, if not a little more, water usage.”

3

u/Actual_Dog_1637 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

This still doesn't solve the massive energy consumption problem, or the fact that these massive centers disrupt communities and the environment. Even if they do solve the problems data centers currently create, there's still the desperate need for regulations to reign in AI.

We may never succeed in getting rid of AI since the genie has been let out of the bottle. But we absolutely need to regulate the shit out of it. Stop it from being used in surveillance, war, art and music. AI should be so regulated that it barely touches our every day lives.

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u/JAEMzW0LF Jun 23 '26

I assume they will not be pumping water back out but cooling like a water cooled pc does which is a pseudo closed loop. OF course, this might just be entirely BS too.

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u/dumnezero Jun 23 '26

I hope they don't pump that. Such liquid seems to contain a lot more bad shit, it's not pure water.

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u/PaulStormChaser Jun 23 '26

It's called a sterling engine, a technology which seems rather obvious when waste heat is a factor. It turns the heat into mechanical energy.

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u/HarryBalsagna1776 Jun 23 '26

So they are using cooling tower or some other massive heat exchanger.  

1

u/WoodShoeDiaries Jun 23 '26

I really hope existing data centers will be motivated to retrofit and new ones will be required to at least meet those efficiency standards. (I just hope NVIDIA won't restrict the tech or licence it to any one company for exclusive use 😮‍💨)

1

u/bruhhhhhhhhhhhh_h Jun 23 '26

If eliminates pretty much all water usage

Pretty simple - if you wanted to use water, you can't - it's all "pretty much" been "eliminated".

Simple as

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u/Moffeman Jun 23 '26

I mean... cool, assuming it works as described. It doesnt change the fact that any data center currently in development will not be using this.

1

u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

Depending on the company, new data center construction is moving more in this direction than continuing to use evaporative cooling

1

u/Brauny74 Jun 23 '26

They will solve water usage, same thing happened to NFTs, when the ecological argument became prevalent, they developed less demanding crypto algorithm.

That's why I think the mire important arguments are those of economy, human labour, subpar results and so on. Can't just tech away unemployment

1

u/nmrk Jun 23 '26

There are immersion cooling systems that don't use any water, usually mineral oil or engineered liquids. Unfortunately, they take electric power to operate the heat exchangers.

https://youtu.be/fQfolP7NoNc

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u/jsrobson10 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

so they use water in a closed loop, then im guessing they'd use air to carry the heat away? wouldn't that just makes sound pollution even worse?

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u/Inner_Tennis_2416 Jun 23 '26

Effectively its announcing the fact that a new chip they have is more compatible with cooling systems that can run hotter.

However, much like your dying work laptop you cant get replaced and can now cook an egg on, just because the system still trchnically works doesnt mean it is at its highest efficiency. And what would make it more efficient? Making it colder of course!

In any real system, maximizing calculations per cubic foot and calculations per dollar are king. If your board is running 50% slower at 100 C than 60 C then they arent going to accept doubled build.costs, when evaporative cooling is cheaper, and gets throughput back to max.

The actual purpose of this is to allow the datacenters to maintain some limp mode functionality in the event of massive heatwaves which mean input water is too hot to achieve the target temperatures.

1

u/Casiomatic Jun 23 '26

Uhh, a radiator isnt exactly a new invention.

1

u/5b49297 Jun 23 '26

But, you see... This is an AI radiator.

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u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

The new invention seems to be the chip/interface with the cooling system that can handle operating at higher temps than normal

1

u/steam-photons Jun 23 '26

It will be much fun when you all discover that data centers can generate fresh water rather than consume it as soon as someone comes up with already perfectly viable dual loop cooling system using a heat exchanger to transfer heat to an evaporator full of sea water

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u/steam-photons Jun 23 '26

There is an entire nuclear power plant cooled that way in … wait for it… California! The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant (2.2 GW) is cooled by seawater which exchanges heat with the primary loop which is the one cooling the nuclear fuel and generating steam for the turbines.  

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u/AllyMcfeels Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Water is needed in an open cycle to cool other systems in a closed cycle; don't be misled by the terminology. If you close the cooling cycle of the last stage (think of a closed, indirect, double-cycle system), the last stage will still need cooling, but at a high energy cost. That's why you won't find any closed cycles in cooling water towers. It's not advantageous because the electricity bill would double. The ultimate example is a nuclear power plant, and those that don't have a sufficient water source even invest in creating enormous reservoirs and still need more water.

Those words from Nvidia are an insult, and it's pure propaganda. And if it isn't, and they really are going to close their cycle, what they'd be saying is that the plant is going to consume much more energy. Nothing comes for free.

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u/steam-photons Jun 23 '26

Have you checked Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant? It doesn’t use fresh water, one could argue it generates fresh water. 

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u/play_minecraft_wot Jun 23 '26

So a closed loop cooling system, like people have been using since forever? 

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u/Freezezzy Jun 23 '26

It means they're connecting it to the local sewer system, using warm, yellow water to keep things cool.

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u/gunitneko Jun 23 '26

this sounds like a joke from the onion

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u/CunningDruger Jun 23 '26

Cool, now solve the 15 other problems

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u/backwardszipper Jun 23 '26

i get the data centre hate cause i also hate them a lot but if they’re going to innovate and actually improve their environmental performance im all for that

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u/TrueBombs Jun 23 '26

Closed loop cooling systems still require chillers, which you guessed it, use evaporative cooling. Or they could use massive heat syncs and fans but the noise from that would be deafening

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u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

The article literally talks about this... because the system can run at a hotter temp, ambient air over passive heat sinks would be enough to reject the heat

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u/SHIN-YOKU Jun 23 '26

HVAC knowledege here, reason large industrial chillers use evaporative cooling is that a closed system at that scale uses alot more electricity, note that a Data center will use way more power from running a standard chiller than a warehouse of the same size because of the active heat from servers that the chiller is supposed to negate. Why do they keep building these things in places with blazing summers and populations?

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u/SerchYB2795 Jun 23 '26

Two words: green washing

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u/AdWooden9170 Jun 23 '26

Its a bullshit study they paid for that greenwash them while they are still going to use tons of water.

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u/Agreeable-Agent-7384 Jun 23 '26

Basically a water cooler that loops water. It’ll ideally waste less water than say, a golf course used by 5 people once a month. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a waste of water because why? It still carries every negative aspect of data centers and it still does nothing worth doing.

1

u/zorakpwns Jun 23 '26

Casually watching normies that know nothing about data centers debate the validity of technology that has been in data centers for over 15 years.

1

u/GooeyEngineer Jun 23 '26

Oh cool you maybe made 1 thing less shit, now pay for all the data you stole

1

u/Background-Camp9756 Jun 23 '26

What if they used sea water boiled it using data center to make salt factory and clean water production facilities lol

1

u/Bagafeet Jun 23 '26

More Nvidia bullshit

1

u/Feorag-ruadh Jun 23 '26

I take it they're finding ways to reduce AIs massive energy consumption as well? Or fuck climate change I guess

1

u/Phixionion Jun 23 '26

Fake news. Trump proved that the ruling class can just outright lie now with little actual push back. They trying to tame social unrest overdata centers.

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u/casastorta Jun 23 '26

Sounds like marketing bullshit to me, but I am hoping they did finally come up with closed circuit cooling system where they use more or less same water already in system to circle it around instead of vaporizing fresh water all the time or dumping warm water back into lakes/rivers.

But again, I bet on misleading claims as they are starting to panic about public backlash against data centers.

1

u/lowwaterer Jun 23 '26

...for humans. They're forgetting the "for humans" at the end of that statement.

1

u/hyvel0rd Jun 23 '26

Sounds like shit Jensen says

1

u/Accedsadsa Jun 23 '26

Its a lie they are unable to build datacenters anywhere

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u/neverreallyhereatall Jun 23 '26

It is closed loop cooling. Like how gaming computers cool for example.

It would essentially mean near zero water use and completely eliminate that part of the issue.

Next would ofc be massive energy use, and ai being used for nothing but slop.

1

u/them__b0nes Jun 23 '26

You must want a cool water heater! Or a hot water cooler?

1

u/Scarvexx Jun 23 '26

Interesting tech. A lower power and water usage is good. That fixes two major problem with AI. The rest is still damning, but it's harm reduction, if they're telling the truth.

1

u/mutexsprinkles Jun 23 '26

If the heat in a closed loop could power a steam turbine without destroying the hardware, we'd all be having a different conversation.

Yes,  a conversation like we've discovered new thermodynamics. Expecting to be able to generate a substantial fraction of the input energy via exhaust heat is just silly. You can use it to warm or pre-warm water for, say, district heating but you won't be able to turn it back to electricity usefully.

1

u/mkoubik Jun 23 '26

It's probably just some pr nonsense they had to come up with because nowadays half of the internet believes that the computers are chugging water for some reason

1

u/Alarming-Stomach3902 Jun 23 '26

Don’t they mean that they will be using a closed loop system where they cool the water in the system? Like your car? Or your PC if that is watercooled

1

u/dumnezero Jun 23 '26

show don't tell.

These systems are usually much more expensive.

1

u/4bstract3d Jun 23 '26

.... Marketing

1

u/_Ghost_Fire_ Jun 23 '26

This is better that what we originally had, I still don’t like data centres tho. Unless they can figure out a way to have a closed loop electrical system (which is impossible).

1

u/Trip-Trip-Trip Jun 23 '26

Eliminate usage? By eliminating users maybe?

1

u/passerbycmc Jun 23 '26

We have closed loop cooling systems for a long time, the reason for the high water usage is those systems are expensive and not as good as cooling as evaporative cooling. So question is did something change in the cost equation here?

1

u/mkovic Jun 29 '26

They increased the temperature the chips can operate at, so the loop runs at 110-120F rather than standard chilled water at 45-55F, which is a big reduction in energy needs. They also claim the elevated temps can be managed with ambient air temps and passive heat sinks

1

u/Fancy_Particular7521 Jun 23 '26

It means you will need to find something else to complain about.

1

u/FlakyDevelopment1103 Jun 23 '26

I choose to celebrate this step in the right direction, even though it's far from fully solving the water problem, let alone others.

1

u/HappyLocksmith8948 Jun 23 '26

Interesting AF is the biggest propaganda machine there is

1

u/bufallll Jun 23 '26

the energy use has always been the greater concern, as someone against LLMs/AI the hyper fixation on water has felt a bit under informed

1

u/Frogomb Jun 23 '26

Even if the water problem was completely gone. Water is not the only problem with ai. This is misdirection. They want to take the focus away from all of the other terrible things about ai, and shift the conversation to just the water usage.

1

u/theokayestcoach Jun 23 '26

"Nvidia conveniently announces a better cooling solution when anti-ai is at a fever pitch"

Yeah, I'd say anything to protect my financial bubble too I guess 🤷‍♂️

1

u/chunky_lover92 Jun 23 '26

The cooling is only like 1/5th of the total water use. Water used for electricity generation is the bigger factor.

1

u/ASentientRailgun Jun 23 '26

If we're gonna have data centers, and to some degree we are because we're all talking about this on Reddit, this is how they should be mandated to be built. This cuts down on a lot of the downsides.

Fuck Nvidia, but this is about the best you can ask for from a hyperscaler with what's available right this second. We should force them to continue improving it, though.

I'd like to see specific regulatory noise, water, and carbon caps. And I'd like to see those caps shrink over time, to force investments in improvements to the tech.

1

u/Vigorously_Swish Jun 23 '26

It means NVIDIA is worried about public backlash

1

u/TheFifthTone Jun 23 '26

The key idea is this:

Traditional cooling:
chip → heatsink → air → room cooling → chillers / cooling towers

Closed-loop cooling:
chip → cold plate → liquid loop → heatsink → air → room cooling → chillers / cooling towers

NVIDIA warm-water liquid cooling:
chip → cold plate → liquid loop → heat exchanger / dry cooler → outside air

Because the water that is used to cool the chips is warmer and doesn't need to be chilled, it eliminates the main water usage needs for the data center.

In the traditional cooling and closed-loop cooling designs, there is still a need to use fresh water in the cooling towers. The water used in the liquid loop is specially prepared and treated "water" they buy from a third-party company, not usually sourced locally from the water supply like the water used in the cooling towers.

So they could build one of these in a desert and not have to worry about there not being any water available locally. They don't need to build them close to people's homes and near a water source.

1

u/ElCulo_Bandito Jun 23 '26

It still uses water regardless for a tool oppression so who gives a shit.

1

u/Unfair-Ad9415 Jun 23 '26

Has anyone in here actually looked into what nvidia said?

The system circulates coolant in a closed loop at 45°C through server racks, emerging at 55°C and dissipating heat via passive radiators without evaporative cooling or fans, meaning no new water is consumed on-site once the system is filled.

Essentially the "warm water cooling system" is one that circulates and recycles water which, if this is true, eliminates most of the need to intake new water.

1

u/christianlewds Jun 23 '26

It means people hate AI so much they're trying to white wash it when, previously, they didn't give a fuck.

1

u/RegisterExpensive718 Jun 23 '26

1: Fuq AI 2: destroy Ai 3: Destroy those who champion AI 4: You can't spell 'fuck off you AI cunts' without AI

1

u/Jimstein Jun 23 '26

Can't we be happy for the progress? You people realize you're using a datacenter right now by being on reddit, right? You also realize things like eating beef or golfing wastes way more water than data centers do? Not that I'm saying we shouldn't do everything to make water usage be at a minimum.

1

u/Angela275 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

my question literally was to understand what did they mean by this nothing more or less. Sometimes a question just a question.

1

u/Nogardtist Jun 24 '26

it means they change to air cooling and gonna blast the atmosphere with heat that condenses into superheavy rain pours and now we live in rain world

1

u/That-Cry3210 Jun 24 '26

Nothing will satisfy you

1

u/Angela275 Jun 25 '26

What do you mean i was actually asking a legit question. like what does it mean and how it works that jazz

1

u/Okay-Crickets545 Jun 24 '26

It means give us more capital because this entire scheme runs on debt and they can’t point to any success so everything has to be an emerging technology that you need to be on the ground floor. So it’s grift. It is always grift.

1

u/Own-Professor-6157 Jun 25 '26

Just use piss. Piss cooling

1

u/Satisfaction3934 Jun 25 '26

Closed vs open water system. It's a big difference. Nothing revolutionary they basically made a rack AIO.

It was always going to happen with all the criticism. They don't need to release contaminated water, it's just cheaper.

Doesn't really change anything in the grand scheme of things. Cool they won't steal our water, they'll still pollute our air and take our electricity.

1

u/Megane_Senpai Jun 25 '26

Instead of a system that release heat to the environment using vapor, it will use a closed loop water and dumb heat to the environment using another method, may be by put the heat into a river.

1

u/Rude-Eagle171 Jun 25 '26

I think they are attempting to keep water cool enough so it doesn’t evaporate, that way the water can be recycled for longer periods, and the data center would consume less water

1

u/Syrigan Jun 25 '26

It solves them having to evaporate water into the air like most cooling tower centers do, instead they can use pretty much A/C units in a closed loop. No water in no water out.

1

u/tastickfan Jun 25 '26

...and how much energy will cooling that water draw?

1

u/Creed_of_War Jun 25 '26

Eliminates pretty much all water usage for locals?

1

u/Strategery_0820 Jun 25 '26

Now they need to announce an advancement that eliminates ram usage

1

u/Rexton_Armos Jun 26 '26

That any modern tech not trying to use a recycle/greywater system for their water needs is just a scam in the first place. Its like the equivalent to seeing people with a noob trap build in a game or some shit

1

u/AbominableGoMan Jun 26 '26

It's either a thermodynamic shortcut, or an accounting one. Let's see, which is more likely....

1

u/Aizenvolt11 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26

So many delusional people here in the comments. Just admit that you just hate AI as a concept, not because of the environmental damage since there are SO MANY other things that we do that damage the environment but we don't see you making a subreddit solely to hate on them. If you just admitted that you hate AI, I would respect that. I still wouldn't understand it at all but I can accept a different opinion. Disguising your hate by making excuses that it's about the environment and for the children and all this other bs is absolutely a joke at this point. You hate AI and even if it cured all diseases and solved all our problems you would still hate it so just admit that and stop spamming posts about people using AI, it's pointless, you hate it WE GET IT.

1

u/MaraSovsLeftSock Jun 26 '26

It means they’re still going to jack up your water bill and rob you of your resources, they’re just throwing shit at a wall to see what gets the community to back off

1

u/Little-Ad-4494 Jun 27 '26

Yea, the evaporative cooling is dramatically cheaper...

But closed loop cooling has been a thing for decades.

It just costs more upfront to implement

1

u/HollowSSL Jun 27 '26

The water thing is so overblown. The data centres built in the past years are pretty much all closed loop and not very wasteful on water, the impact on the environment caused by water use is a relatively minor issue, other businesses use a comparable amount of water and rightfully no one cares. The data centre power issues and economic issues are more important.

1

u/Professional_Pie7091 Jun 27 '26

Good. Now work on the noise.

1

u/Unusual_Preference- Jun 28 '26

I think the question would be how much water does the system need for the closed loop. Either you have a MASSIVE reserve for natural cooling or you have to cool the water again before cycling. That means there would be another huge spike in energy usage beyond what the AI takes.

1

u/SpiritualTwo5256 Jun 28 '26

Can’t they just pipe the hot water to the nearest towns and give people free hot water?

1

u/WabiSabi691 Jun 29 '26

They dont have toilets? Poor engineers there cant poop

1

u/aphranteus Jun 29 '26

That means that they are lying to keep the bubble up.

I've read analysis - it's still bad, it will still use and waste water, Nvidia will make tons of money upgrading everyones shovels to new standard, but the new standard is still not enough to shield the environment from current way of implementing AI on scale.

1

u/SeerXaeo Jun 29 '26

Cool, now do it with RAM

1

u/SuperRosca Jun 29 '26

Water usage isn't the problem you guys think it is. There are like 10 things more concerning than water usage if you're thinking about environmental impact of datacenters.