“ Water consumption is a huge concern. We have several clients that are looking at various ways that they could improve efficiencies within the cooling system itself”
BLACK & VEATCH
“ Water consumption is a huge concern. We have several clients that are looking at various ways that they could improve efficiencies within the cooling system itself”
HEATHER CHESLEK, GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL WATER SOLUTION LEADER, BLACK & VEATCH
Data Centre Group, explains the shift:“ Water stress and water scarcity. It has to be thought about because obviously you don’ t want to build in a place where you won’ t have long-term reliable water supply.”
The solution often lies in redefining what constitutes acceptable water sources. Recycled water from wastewater treatment plants addresses both availability and perception issues by using water that would otherwise be discharged.“ We have worked with a hyperscaler in a community where we performed a study recently to look at whether or not they could utilise a recycled stream from the wastewater treatment plant – treated effluent – to basically replace their use of potable water, drinking water, at that site,” Heather describes.
But water and energy consumption create complex trade-offs that vary by location and season. Air-cooled systems reduce on-site water usage but increase electrical demand, potentially shifting consumption to power generation facilities that may use more water per megawatt hour than direct cooling.
“ If you’ re increasing your electrical load or your power generation or your power that you’ re utilising, based on an air-cooled or mechanical system, your off-site water demand is increasing,” Mikeal explains.“ Power generation off-site – I think a lot of people do not think about that, but there’ s a significant amount of water use in the power generation process at the utility.” datacentremagazine. com 59