OpenAI writes that the now-banned accounts were "supporting covert influence operations that promoted narratives in an attempt to manipulate a legitimate debate about American AI and wider...
Data centers typically use evaporative cooling, so the water is consumed (released into the air). If they used closed loop systems it would be different.
Typically? Maybe in some arid climates without humidity but try using evaporative cooling during a thunderstorm and you’ll find your data center shutting down from overheating.
70% of global water usage comes from electricity generation. That’s where data centers consume most of their water.
Could you elaborate on the 70% figure?
A quick search returns multiple hits suggesting the 70% number is actually related to agriculture, not electricity production. See e.g. here.
Or did you mean 70% of the water used be data centers?
Oh, you’re right. I used the Wikipedia article as source and it said:
Distribution of this use among sectors was: thermoelectric power generation 66.2%, manufacturing 13.6%, residential 9.0%, agriculture 4.7%, commercial and institutional 2.7%, water treatment and distribution systems 2.3%, mining 1.1%, and oil and gas extraction 0.5%.
Yet the previous sentence said this was about Canada. Whoops.
Though in Europe and North America, where a big chunk of data centers are typically built, agriculture tends to have a lower share with industry (including but not limited to power generation) having a bigger one:
Data centers typically use evaporative cooling, so the water is consumed (released into the air). If they used closed loop systems it would be different.
Yeah so do lawns.
Clearly, the solution is to develop a breed of astroturf that doubles as an AI datacenter. /s
Oh christ don’t give them any ideas.
Typically? Maybe in some arid climates without humidity but try using evaporative cooling during a thunderstorm and you’ll find your data center shutting down from overheating.
70% of global water usage comes from electricity generation. That’s where data centers consume most of their water.
Could you elaborate on the 70% figure? A quick search returns multiple hits suggesting the 70% number is actually related to agriculture, not electricity production. See e.g. here.
Or did you mean 70% of the water used be data centers?
Oh, you’re right. I used the Wikipedia article as source and it said:
Yet the previous sentence said this was about Canada. Whoops.
Though in Europe and North America, where a big chunk of data centers are typically built, agriculture tends to have a lower share with industry (including but not limited to power generation) having a bigger one:
https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress