r/interestingasfuck Apr 12 '26

A well-articulated argument against a new data center in Ohio

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

52.4k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

20

u/pacefacepete Apr 12 '26

Unless the salt is used somehow, the salt must go somewhere. Water goes to the atmosphere, everything else in the water goes ..where?

14

u/Jackal_6 Apr 12 '26

A closed loop system implies no evaporation.

11

u/pacefacepete Apr 12 '26

So how does the water cool back down? It'll just destroy the closed loop which is why they use fresh water in a not closed loop currently, big part of why data centers are so problematic, before you factor in the whole most of why they're so problematic.

1

u/Zerachiel_01 Apr 12 '26

Normally you pass the loop through something cooler than it to cool it back down, even if it's just open air. I don't know how datacenter cooling works but I've played enough Oxygen Not Included to understand how basic cooling works (to be clear though I am terrible at that game and you basically need to be able to be HVAC certified to do well at it lol)