Google has opened a new data center in Finland where all of the cooling is done with sea water rather than compressors and refrigerants. The building, which was originally built as a paper mill, is located on the Gulf of Finland and using cool sea water is a way to save money while keeping the building cooled with a readily available resource.
Cooling is one of the biggest expenses for data centers. Servers, especially when many of them are stacked close together, generate a great amount of heat, and that heat must be dissipated to keep the equipment running. The Google data center brings in sea water through granite tunnels and into heat exchangers where the water absorbs the heat to keep the equipment cool.
The heated water is further tempered with cool sea water in a separate building before it is returned to the ocean to minimize the impact the heated water might have on the natural environment.
hat tip: @SomeChum
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written by Sustainble Guru, May 25, 2011
My first thought was what happens to the warm water going back in to the ocean. Would like to see how this works. How applicable is it to other industries?
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written by Monk, May 26, 2011
How is this any different from any other form of environmental vandalism? The water returned from the equipment is warmer than before. The oceans are the world's most important CO2 sink. Google, in returning warmed water to the ocean will cause the ocean to release more CO2 than it would if it were not warmed.
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written by Jimbo, May 26, 2011
No, this is cool. It's an innovative way of dealing with the problem of cooling a large data center that produces a lot of heat. It's more energy efficient, so it saves google money, and less electricity used probably means less CO2 produced from generating electricity. As for your random thought about warm seawater releasing CO2, Monk, care to back it up with any actual facts concerning this project that you can cite?
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written by RwFlynn, May 26, 2011
@ Guru,
I can see how this could cause some problems. Hopefully the water's heat is dissipated enough after it's mixed with the cold water again before being pumped back into the ocean. Makes me want to go to Finland and take some measurements. XP
@ Monk,
I'm not sure evaporation is the biggest concern here. What I'd like to know is what effects does this temperature change have on the local aquatic life. However, if this process is implemented on a much larger scale I'd be more worried about CO2. I would hope that if it does become implemented on larger scales that they figure out a more efficient way to cool the water, that is, if this temperament technique isn't enough.
I can see how this could cause some problems. Hopefully the water's heat is dissipated enough after it's mixed with the cold water again before being pumped back into the ocean. Makes me want to go to Finland and take some measurements. XP
@ Monk,
I'm not sure evaporation is the biggest concern here. What I'd like to know is what effects does this temperature change have on the local aquatic life. However, if this process is implemented on a much larger scale I'd be more worried about CO2. I would hope that if it does become implemented on larger scales that they figure out a more efficient way to cool the water, that is, if this temperament technique isn't enough.
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written by Matt, May 26, 2011
This is NOT new, this approach has been used for power plants since the first coal plant was built near a body of water. Industry produces waste heat, and it is either dumped into the air or into a body of water.
Notice the center is in a old paper mill. You can bet the old paper mill dumped a lot more than just waste heat into the water pipes that are being reused here.
They are mixing the heated water with other cold water so it isn't "too" hot. But in the end they will have some impact, a lot less that running a electric air conditioner that is powered by a coal plant that would have heated a lot more water for its cooling.
Notice the center is in a old paper mill. You can bet the old paper mill dumped a lot more than just waste heat into the water pipes that are being reused here.
They are mixing the heated water with other cold water so it isn't "too" hot. But in the end they will have some impact, a lot less that running a electric air conditioner that is powered by a coal plant that would have heated a lot more water for its cooling.
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written by Sean, May 28, 2011
Brilliant, but they shouldn't be mixing Repulsion Gel and Propulsion Gel
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written by Pierre, May 28, 2011
Okay it works but is it really a good idea or just a "recycled" one? Recycling ideas is only good when further enhancements are added, like maybe Google could concentrate the waste heat to local heat domestic water, to produce power or to use in other industrial processes.
I thought Europe was big on cutting emissions and making processes more efficient. Where's the ingenuity?
How hard is it to list what needs cooling and what needs heating and pair the two up, transfer heat from one to the other?
I thought Europe was big on cutting emissions and making processes more efficient. Where's the ingenuity?
How hard is it to list what needs cooling and what needs heating and pair the two up, transfer heat from one to the other?
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written by Pierre, May 28, 2011
OOOO another " I cooled something with water" idea...
not original in the least, it's been done for centuries (maybe just decades?). They need to increase the efficiency of the operation by doing something useful with the heat. They need to pair the cooling operation with a heating operation to create a true green solution.
Maybe they could concentrate the heat to produce power, or heat local domestic hot water, or for use in industrial processes.
not original in the least, it's been done for centuries (maybe just decades?). They need to increase the efficiency of the operation by doing something useful with the heat. They need to pair the cooling operation with a heating operation to create a true green solution.
Maybe they could concentrate the heat to produce power, or heat local domestic hot water, or for use in industrial processes.
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written by Miguel, June 02, 2011
This is not very innovative. I've read an article of a data centre in Helsinki where they have a public cool/hot air system so the data centre was taking in cool air from the public system and returning hot air. that is green.
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written by mikasjoman, June 04, 2011
just use the heated water to warm up houses? Finland is damn cold during most of the year, and heating is the NO:1 use of electricity. Sounds better to keep the heat and use it for something smart instead of throwing it out in the ocean. Guess there are industries that actually need hot water too that could buy this warm water from Google.
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MAY 25
"just use the heated water to warm up houses? Finland is damn cold duri..."
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