China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool
  • SendMePhotos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    202·
    8 days ago

    There are already llava/magma vents in the ocean… But the thought of human heat being added makes me upset because it’s just another piece.

    • techt@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      8 days ago

      I get it, truly, but we’ve been dejecting heat to the ocean for a good while. Ocean water cools marine engines and equipment, and heck we use rivers to cool lots of things – even reactors, which ends up back in the ocean. Data center cooling might be one of the more responsible uses because it’s (hopefully) not leeching petroleum or radioactive byproducts into the water.

      I’m actually a little more upset now than when I started this comment.

      >:(

  • subignition@fedia.io
    181·
    8 days ago

    If we can’t stop the energy from being used anyway, why not make a desalination plant out of it too? 🤦

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    8 days ago

    Sounds like a great idea. OTOH, impossible to calculate the damage to local ecosystems vs. traditional methods.

    Totally uneducated guess: Probably better? Cooling is a major power suck, as well as consuming water.

    Roughly 40 percent of the electricity consumed by an ordinary data center is for this purpose.

    We’re draining aquifers that take thousands of years to build up. Don’t read up on that, it’s horrifying. So if we have to have data centers, I’m gambling that underwater is the lesser of two evils.

  • fubarx@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    8 days ago

    Microsoft and Google both prototyped it. FWIW, they didn’t take it to production once the data was collected.

    IIRC, cooling worked fine if placed in the right place with circulation, but maintenance and part replacement was a major issue.

    • lunarul@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      7 days ago

      maintenance and part replacement was a major issue

      That was my first thought: who’s going to be the underwater IT guy?

      Edit: as an interesting coincidence, I just interviewed an engineer today who has rescue diver on his resume with 16 years of diving experience

  • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    7·
    8 days ago

    Nothing better than destroying the planet for a quick buck off a cheap grift.

    Chinese capitalism <—> Planetary destruction <—> USA capitalism

  • zerofk@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago

    Didn’t Microsoft do this a decade or two ago already? Or was that just exploring the idea?

    • schema@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      7 days ago

      It was to study its effectiveness and sustainability iirc, not meant to be done for actual production at that point in time.

      I guess one major downside is that if a component breaks, be it something simple like a capacitor, there is no easy way to replace it, so it has to be designed with that in mind.