The Environmental Impact of Generative AI?

Recent stats reveal that only 16% of people are aware of the substantial water resources needed to cool the servers powering AI. For instance, estimates from the US indicate that ChatGPT consumes over one 500ml bottle of water per 100-word request. Shockingly, nearly one-third of the population mistakenly believes that crafting a 100-word email requires no water.

What sort of cooling systems consume water? I've come across system that use water as a heat transfer medium, but it's part of a closed loop and doesn't draw in any new water after initial commissioning. I could believe 500ml being pumped around a loop, but I'd be astonished if anyone was taking tap water, warming it up in a data centre then just shoving it down the drain.

   - Andy.

this article https://eng.ox.ac.uk/case-studies/the-true-cost-of-water-guzzling-data-centres/

suggests that evaporative cooling of the outdoor bits is a common wheeze to improve heat removal in hot climates.

In such cases the water leaves never to be seen again.

mike.

Ah, that makes sense (well sort of). Thanks for that Mike. Seems than that water usage could be traded for power usage then, or by locating data centres in cooler parts of the globe.

    - Andy.

Hello Mike:

You can't really believe "In such cases the water leaves never to be seen again"

Water has  a cycle from the land into the atmosphere and back again. 

It may effectively leaves the specific area where the cooling takes place but can end up as rain miles way.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL

Given our technical backgrounds, I'm rather hoping you are playing here !  - what I mean of course is that the cooling water used in the evaporative cooler  leaves the control of the plant operator , and to replace it, water has to be re-purified and filtered from the local water supply. Unlike the sort of closed loop thing you might see in the UK, where the liquid recycles for years and external air is blown over heat exchangers dry.
The only time I have ever seen the evporation technique  and recognized it as such is in Brazil, so maybe its an american thing.

I am not suggesting water leaves the ecosystem as a whole in any quantity !! . It may however re-precipitate miles away from the heat exchanger over the ocean or onto another country that does not appreciate it. ;-)

Mike.

Hello Mike

"Swamp coolers ' for houses and manufacturing facilities require a low level of humidity such as in Phoenix - "It's a dry heat", not  in locations which have 90 % humidity.

I saw a lot of them when I lived there. 

Here in Florida we do have dry periods of the year, where fires start in places like the Everglades

Currently we are under  "no burn" conditions.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay

Hello Mike

"Swamp coolers ' for houses and manufacturing facilities require a low level of humidity such as in Phoenix - "It's a dry heat", not  in locations which have 90 % humidity.

I saw a lot of them when I lived there. 

Here in Florida we do have dry periods of the year, where fires start in places like the Everglades

Currently we are under  "no burn" conditions.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay

As well as having damp air, here in the we also have concerns about warm water mists in terms of legionella & other nasty waterborne ailments - there have been serious problems with things like power station cooling towers and the water misters used in paper mills and some fabric processes to calm static electricity.  I suspect the two factors combine to make it an unpopular method here.

I presume you call it a swamp cooler because it is damp, not because you can cool buildings in swamps with it - which I imagine would not work so well, for the damp air reason.

Almost alien technology here I think, probably  even more so than automatic gear boxes. ;-)
Mike.