this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2026
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I've got to wonder if there's some way to install heat exchangers on these data centers to recapture the heat. Nearly 100% of that energy is turned into heat (with a little escaping as sound). I've heard they're wanting to build datacenters inside decommissioned nuclear power plants, so maybe those would even have some of the infrastructure to do it?
It might be tricky if the hot exhaust never gets above water boiling temperature...
Edit: It looks like this is the closest technology we have: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower Building one of those on a datacenter could recover maybe 20-30% of the energy if I'm understanding the article right.
Most data centres use some type of mechanical cooling (like AC) but instead of using compression, they can use a close system exchange with outdoor air. Still the same problem (several thousand households worth of heat in a single building), but it's at least not wasting clean water for it. They could use the heat to keep green houses warm, heat towns, or use it for power generation even.
But those all cost money, which is why they won't do it. This is the same type of planning that puts trains in a city above ground and builds multi million dollar buildings that will be torn down in 30 years because they are falling apart.
Which is exactly what I'm suggesting?
I'm not talking about water consumption of evaporative cooling, I'm more talking about the massive power inputs that put 100% of that heat into the surrounding environment. It would be amazing if that could be reduced to only 70% of the energy input.