'Insane' Water Use in Silicon Valley

A single data centre can consume up to 20,000 litres of water per hour - "as much water as a small city", according to Peter Hopton, founder of liquid-cooling firm Iceotope

A single data centre can consume up to 20,000 litres of water per hour - "as much water as a small city", according to Peter Hopton, founder of liquid-cooling firm Iceotope.

"The water use of data centres is insane, especially when viewed in a time of 'historic drought' in California, where many facilities are based," said Hopton

"Underpressure from environmental campaigners, web giants have tried their very best to make these facilities as efficient as possible, but they've done so by evaporating clean water in order to cool the air around the electronics. It doesn't seem like a good trade off to me.

"With a typical server drinking as much water as the average human being per day, I know who I'd rather give it to."

Priorities

Water is a more energy-efficient way to cool vast data-centres than air, but those priorities need to be reassessed given the current context of drought, according to Hopton.

Edie has recently looked into the green credentials of bothAppleandGoogleand found a longstanding commitment to reducing emissions and energy use, but less of a focus on water conservation.

The problem, according to water industry leaders, is that there's no real value in saving water because it is so cheap.

Reacting

However, as the drought has lengthenedand deepened, companies have responded.

Google isreportedly consideringinstalling new urinal cakes containing enzymes that calcify urine so that toilets only have to be flushed a few times each day, saving up to 500,000 gallons of water a year.

It has also switched to recycled water at several data centres, noting "we soon realized that the water we used didn't need to be clean enough to drink".

Source: Edie

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy

• Drought
• Water Supply
• Water Management