Chapter 1
The physical footprint of the cloud
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Chapter 2
The thirst of the internet
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Chapter 3
Powering the digital beast
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Chapter 4
Noise, land, and creative solutions
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YOUR GOAL
Master of The controversy of data centers
Ch 2 · The thirst of the internet
diego Data Center Water Consumption
To train the brains of the new machine, They're drinking Iowa's rivers clean.
diego Tech giants build massive data centers in the dry Arizona desert, raising local concerns about water sustainability.
diego Local protests in Santiago, Chile, successfully fought a data center plan to protect scarce underground water reserves.
Fun Fact
Water footprint: A single large data center can consume as much water daily as an entire city of fifty thousand people.
Glossary
data center (noun)
A large facility used to house networked computer systems for storing, processing, and distributing data. In Texas, these facilities consume fifty billion gallons of water annually to cool their humming computer servers.
A large facility used to house networked computer systems for storing, processing, and distributing data. In Texas, these facilities consume fifty billion gallons of water annually to cool their humming computer servers.
Quiz
What is the name of the system in Stockholm, Sweden, that uses data center heat to warm local apartments?
Quiz
Why do tech companies build data centers in desert regions like Arizona despite water scarcity?
Quiz
What city in the dry Arizona desert hosts major data hubs for Apple, Meta, and Google?
Quiz
How did Google resolve local protests in Santiago, Chile, regarding its proposed data center?
Quiz
Approximately how much water can a medium-sized 15-megawatt data center consume each day using evaporative cooling?