Thought this was an interesting trade-off highlighted in the report: AI data centres are looking at cooling systems that use far less water, but some of them rely on fluorinated chemicals tied to PFAS pollution. So while this could help with AI’s huge water footprint/usage, it may end up creating another environmental problem that lasts much longer?
AgreeableRub7 on
The environment never stood a chance man. I feel like the planet will be much happier once we start to wipe ourselves out over the scarcity of water.
Urborg_Stalker on
Why are some members of our species so hellbent on killing us all?
ILikeCutePuppies on
The system is closed loop though. How is it worse than gas in a car?
Gubzs on
No relevant sources cited in this article. Not even one.
2+ year old data on AI water use being cited proves they have no interest in being accurate. Evaporative cooling was being used at that time. Closed loop systems have been the norm since 2025.
This is clickbait.
NighthawK1911 on
oh great. instead of using potable water, they’ll instead use actively harmful chemicals.
insert <why didn’t I think of that simpsons meme>.jpg
red75prime on
> driven by demand from AI data-centre infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and lithium-ion batteries.
The article never mentions relative percentages. Or absolute amounts. Or anything at all, actually.
fivo7 on
Let’s use massive energy and polite to post AI images on Instagram or make money for rich people.. Yay civilisation..
FlyingRigatoniMonst on
Who the fuck does PR for these people. They seem to make things worse at every turn. Next they’ll start to cool them with the blood of children or some shit.
lbotron on
So some of us will almost inevitably get life ending diseases in our bodies from the processes that will almost inevitably culminate in novel life ending diseases in everybody’s bodies
It’s really hard to powerscale bad news anymore
BoobooSmash31337 on
This is a type of refrigeration. People didn’t want evap cooling so this is one of the alternatives. Apparently the stuff goes 1000s of dollars. It’s self contained and recovered. This is a good thing… Man media is so irresponsible and constantly misinforms.
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Thought this was an interesting trade-off highlighted in the report: AI data centres are looking at cooling systems that use far less water, but some of them rely on fluorinated chemicals tied to PFAS pollution. So while this could help with AI’s huge water footprint/usage, it may end up creating another environmental problem that lasts much longer?
The environment never stood a chance man. I feel like the planet will be much happier once we start to wipe ourselves out over the scarcity of water.
Why are some members of our species so hellbent on killing us all?
The system is closed loop though. How is it worse than gas in a car?
No relevant sources cited in this article. Not even one.
Also:
>A 2024 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report estimated that US data centres [consumed about 66 billion litres of water directly on site in 2023](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/us-commerce-secretary-data-centres-water-usage-controversy-1817729), with hyperscale and colocation facilities accounting for 84% of that total.
2+ year old data on AI water use being cited proves they have no interest in being accurate. Evaporative cooling was being used at that time. Closed loop systems have been the norm since 2025.
This is clickbait.
oh great. instead of using potable water, they’ll instead use actively harmful chemicals.
insert <why didn’t I think of that simpsons meme>.jpg
> driven by demand from AI data-centre infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing and lithium-ion batteries.
The article never mentions relative percentages. Or absolute amounts. Or anything at all, actually.
Let’s use massive energy and polite to post AI images on Instagram or make money for rich people.. Yay civilisation..
Who the fuck does PR for these people. They seem to make things worse at every turn. Next they’ll start to cool them with the blood of children or some shit.
So some of us will almost inevitably get life ending diseases in our bodies from the processes that will almost inevitably culminate in novel life ending diseases in everybody’s bodies
It’s really hard to powerscale bad news anymore
This is a type of refrigeration. People didn’t want evap cooling so this is one of the alternatives. Apparently the stuff goes 1000s of dollars. It’s self contained and recovered. This is a good thing… Man media is so irresponsible and constantly misinforms.