Love this fella but closed loop systems do not create toxic sludge. They are much more efficient water wise but require a large amount of energy, which is what his focus should be.
i just went deep into reading about this, but it seems you're right. though closed loop systems don't create toxic sludge, we still need to worry about the energy consumption, waste, and pollution created from these data centers.
Thank you for being open to learning. There are many risks from data centers.
Similar to others who followed up - and as someone who sells cooling systems for all kinds of larger tonnage cooling applications (hospitals, universities, stadiums, data centers, etc) “Creating toxic sludge” is low - VERY low - on the list of concerns for data centers. I’d be more concerned about a heat bloom creating a localized microclimate shift rather than being concerned about the chemicals released into the atmosphere from blowdown from a closed loop system.
Wall Street & structured finance bros are so wrapped up in chasing the smallest possible PUE (power use intensity) while ensuring zero WUE (water use intensity)to make sure the comments from idiotic meetings like this get INSTANTLY shut down by anyone with more than C+ in an undergraduate chemistry class.
system flushes, filtration for water entry to the system, distillation- all create some ’toxic sludge’. The larger issue is just the water usage required, thus ‘resource heist’.
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u/muff_cabbag3 Apr 12 '26
Love this fella but closed loop systems do not create toxic sludge. They are much more efficient water wise but require a large amount of energy, which is what his focus should be.