Yet another example of human ingenuity at work. To all the bureaucrats, academics and other busybodies with too much time on their hands, please stay the hell out of the way and let the market -- & the innate adaptability of the human race -- work their magic.
From the USGS figures, water use has declined since its peak in the 1980’s, decoupling from population and gdp growth, and hopefully easing fears of Jevon’s paradox.
However, I’d be more sanguine about the threat of freshwater scarcity if you’d address some of the known externalities of our current water systems.
For instance, using seawater to cool servers sounds better than using freshwater, but wouldn’t it still heat up the seawater used in the process? Rising water temperatures are implicated in a number of negative effects:
Even if the global effect is marginal, surely we must put some value on the coastal fisheries impacted by use and return of this relatively hot industrial water?
-
In Eastern Oregon, there are areas with very low annual rainfall that irrigate with water from vast, but declining historic aquifers- water that was stored underground during periods of wetter climate, millennia ago. Withdrawing that water creates downstream shortages for nearby lakes, rivers, and the wildlife and agricultural interests that depend on that surface water:
While the innovations you mention will surely protect our economies in the global aggregate, in continental low-rainfall areas like Eastern Oregon, we can’t create new water from the ocean. We also can’t rely on consumers reacting to price signal, because the water resource is free for the taking.
Would you suggest state regulation in this case? How else can we internationalize this externality?
I agree with your premise :-) and share the excitement about the new technology. But there’s some important nuance (which I'm sure you're aware of) that was missing from the post:
-- Water is highly regulated (as it probably should be) and subsidised in most places and the market struggles to provide adequate incentives to scale and research new tech. My (relatively minor) concern is that we're moving far too slowly and this might cause problems in the future.
-- Atmospheric capture, desalination, vertical farming etc are no-where near cost competitive with broadacre farming. And there are a bunch of practical reasons that make it very difficult to implement this tech in farmland hundreds of kilomtres from major infrastucture (to say nothing of implementing it quickly in the global south). Other things like acquifer recharge also won't work everywhere. So implementing our best new tech over millions/billions of hecates looks damn hard at the moment.
Our developed world cities are going to be fine -- but I'm less sure whether new tech will be able to rule out a minor drop in total factor ag productivity over the long term. One could imagine some pretty bad consequences for the global south -- and some big flow on effects for the rest of us -- if that were to happen.
All worth a ponder. And of course I'd be happy to be corrected on any of the above.
Immersion cooling technology does not eliminate water use entirely. It's a heat exchange technology to draw the heat from the servers and move it to a cooling unit. So rather than moving air through a cooling unit, a dielectric fluid is moved through the cooling unit. However the cooling unit still needs to cool that fluid, be it air or dielectric fluid, somehow... and often times this is through evaporative cooling which consumes water.
By swapping airflow for dielectric fluid a datacenter operator has more granular control as the air temperature will be mostly independent of the device cooling. So it is possible to make adjustments such that it's a more efficient system and overall uses less water. In some climates evaporative coolers may not be ideal, so in those cases the water use is minimal... but that's really independent of the use of dielectric fluid.
Kyle....I loved this article....thanks very much for the interesting way you presented so much info !
The "panic merchants" and the "doom and gloom merchants" [ The UN is their headquarters !!! ]
have made many attempts to create fear and suspicion about water "scarcity" and "water shortages" and "water wars" to frighten and intimidate the 'general public 'and they have been largely successful ! Ask anyone , and they will agree that "water shortages" are an EXISTENTIAL THREAT....right up there with NUCLEAR WAR ....and "Catastrophic Climate Change" !!!
This is all done , despite all the available information to the contrary , to create a "role" for their morally corrupt UN empire ........ by portraying themselves as a "leading authority on such things" [ which they are not ! ] thereby creating "a GREAT NEED for SOME ALMIGHTY AUTHORITY " to assume POWER , FUNDING and CONTROL over water supplies and water resources everywhere , regardless of ' international borders' or ownership of infrastructure [ such as rivers or dams or power-stations or irrigation schemes or desalination plants etc ]....... It sure worked with COVID !!!!
Every so often , they hold a "UN General Assembly" where they VOTE EVEN MORE POWERS TO THEMSELVES about such matters , which fortunately are NOT legally binding on the affected countries , BUT they often intimidate them into some level of subservience and compliance ,
usually by exerting the pressure of withholding financial assistance in the NEXT ROUND of "handouts" .....largely facilitated by the overly-generous contributions from their Western Member States .......and especially the United States of America !! [ and I can never understand that , given the fact that the UN is now morally corrupt and essentially a Muslim / Marxist stronghold ! ].
Much is made of "bottled water" being the only water FIT TO DRINK regardless of it's origins !
It can be filtered and bottled anywhere , but gains INSTANT APPEAL when it is highly priced , given a fancy name and origin , and CHILLED ! Peoples sensible critical ability seems to vanish !!
e.g. "Coca-Cola's Dasani bottled water, when introduced in the UK, was revealed to be sourced from tap water in London. Specifically, it was revealed to be from a Coca-Cola plant in Sidcup, Kent, where the water was treated and bottled. This revelation, which came after a major advertising campaign, led to significant negative publicity"............but the memory fades............and advertising and 'self-promotion' go on forever !!
In Perth , Western Australia , approximately 30-40% of the water used for the Integrated Water Supply Scheme comes from desalinated seawater........from the Indian Ocean.......and it's lovely !
Yes...it has all the usual "contaminants"[ like chlorine , sodium fluoride , copper sulphate , hydrated lime and carbon dioxide are added to adjust the water's pH , anti-scalants etc ] added to it to assure "suitability" during reticulation !!! Which is probably why the advertising showing pure , pristine , running mountain stream-water is so appealing !! Curiously , nobody ever seems to question what all the animals in the environment contribute to the stream........they certainly DON'T JUST DRINK THE WATER !!! And all those spawning-salmon-carcasses and bears and birds and deer and frogs and water-rats and otters and......................NAH !
Yet another example of human ingenuity at work. To all the bureaucrats, academics and other busybodies with too much time on their hands, please stay the hell out of the way and let the market -- & the innate adaptability of the human race -- work their magic.
As Ambassador for the Intelligent Water Networks (IWN), that message of "Human Innovation" rings true for me!
From the USGS figures, water use has declined since its peak in the 1980’s, decoupling from population and gdp growth, and hopefully easing fears of Jevon’s paradox.
However, I’d be more sanguine about the threat of freshwater scarcity if you’d address some of the known externalities of our current water systems.
For instance, using seawater to cool servers sounds better than using freshwater, but wouldn’t it still heat up the seawater used in the process? Rising water temperatures are implicated in a number of negative effects:
https://research.noaa.gov/in-hot-water-exploring-marine-heatwaves/
Even if the global effect is marginal, surely we must put some value on the coastal fisheries impacted by use and return of this relatively hot industrial water?
-
In Eastern Oregon, there are areas with very low annual rainfall that irrigate with water from vast, but declining historic aquifers- water that was stored underground during periods of wetter climate, millennia ago. Withdrawing that water creates downstream shortages for nearby lakes, rivers, and the wildlife and agricultural interests that depend on that surface water:
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/03/28/race-to-the-bottom-draining-summer-lake/
While the innovations you mention will surely protect our economies in the global aggregate, in continental low-rainfall areas like Eastern Oregon, we can’t create new water from the ocean. We also can’t rely on consumers reacting to price signal, because the water resource is free for the taking.
Would you suggest state regulation in this case? How else can we internationalize this externality?
I agree with your premise :-) and share the excitement about the new technology. But there’s some important nuance (which I'm sure you're aware of) that was missing from the post:
-- Water is highly regulated (as it probably should be) and subsidised in most places and the market struggles to provide adequate incentives to scale and research new tech. My (relatively minor) concern is that we're moving far too slowly and this might cause problems in the future.
-- Atmospheric capture, desalination, vertical farming etc are no-where near cost competitive with broadacre farming. And there are a bunch of practical reasons that make it very difficult to implement this tech in farmland hundreds of kilomtres from major infrastucture (to say nothing of implementing it quickly in the global south). Other things like acquifer recharge also won't work everywhere. So implementing our best new tech over millions/billions of hecates looks damn hard at the moment.
Our developed world cities are going to be fine -- but I'm less sure whether new tech will be able to rule out a minor drop in total factor ag productivity over the long term. One could imagine some pretty bad consequences for the global south -- and some big flow on effects for the rest of us -- if that were to happen.
All worth a ponder. And of course I'd be happy to be corrected on any of the above.
Immersion cooling technology does not eliminate water use entirely. It's a heat exchange technology to draw the heat from the servers and move it to a cooling unit. So rather than moving air through a cooling unit, a dielectric fluid is moved through the cooling unit. However the cooling unit still needs to cool that fluid, be it air or dielectric fluid, somehow... and often times this is through evaporative cooling which consumes water.
By swapping airflow for dielectric fluid a datacenter operator has more granular control as the air temperature will be mostly independent of the device cooling. So it is possible to make adjustments such that it's a more efficient system and overall uses less water. In some climates evaporative coolers may not be ideal, so in those cases the water use is minimal... but that's really independent of the use of dielectric fluid.
Kyle....I loved this article....thanks very much for the interesting way you presented so much info !
The "panic merchants" and the "doom and gloom merchants" [ The UN is their headquarters !!! ]
have made many attempts to create fear and suspicion about water "scarcity" and "water shortages" and "water wars" to frighten and intimidate the 'general public 'and they have been largely successful ! Ask anyone , and they will agree that "water shortages" are an EXISTENTIAL THREAT....right up there with NUCLEAR WAR ....and "Catastrophic Climate Change" !!!
This is all done , despite all the available information to the contrary , to create a "role" for their morally corrupt UN empire ........ by portraying themselves as a "leading authority on such things" [ which they are not ! ] thereby creating "a GREAT NEED for SOME ALMIGHTY AUTHORITY " to assume POWER , FUNDING and CONTROL over water supplies and water resources everywhere , regardless of ' international borders' or ownership of infrastructure [ such as rivers or dams or power-stations or irrigation schemes or desalination plants etc ]....... It sure worked with COVID !!!!
Every so often , they hold a "UN General Assembly" where they VOTE EVEN MORE POWERS TO THEMSELVES about such matters , which fortunately are NOT legally binding on the affected countries , BUT they often intimidate them into some level of subservience and compliance ,
usually by exerting the pressure of withholding financial assistance in the NEXT ROUND of "handouts" .....largely facilitated by the overly-generous contributions from their Western Member States .......and especially the United States of America !! [ and I can never understand that , given the fact that the UN is now morally corrupt and essentially a Muslim / Marxist stronghold ! ].
Much is made of "bottled water" being the only water FIT TO DRINK regardless of it's origins !
It can be filtered and bottled anywhere , but gains INSTANT APPEAL when it is highly priced , given a fancy name and origin , and CHILLED ! Peoples sensible critical ability seems to vanish !!
e.g. "Coca-Cola's Dasani bottled water, when introduced in the UK, was revealed to be sourced from tap water in London. Specifically, it was revealed to be from a Coca-Cola plant in Sidcup, Kent, where the water was treated and bottled. This revelation, which came after a major advertising campaign, led to significant negative publicity"............but the memory fades............and advertising and 'self-promotion' go on forever !!
In Perth , Western Australia , approximately 30-40% of the water used for the Integrated Water Supply Scheme comes from desalinated seawater........from the Indian Ocean.......and it's lovely !
Yes...it has all the usual "contaminants"[ like chlorine , sodium fluoride , copper sulphate , hydrated lime and carbon dioxide are added to adjust the water's pH , anti-scalants etc ] added to it to assure "suitability" during reticulation !!! Which is probably why the advertising showing pure , pristine , running mountain stream-water is so appealing !! Curiously , nobody ever seems to question what all the animals in the environment contribute to the stream........they certainly DON'T JUST DRINK THE WATER !!! And all those spawning-salmon-carcasses and bears and birds and deer and frogs and water-rats and otters and......................NAH !
Reticulated water sounds pretty good to me !