When a new data center is planned for a community, people often ask, “Are you going to use our water?”
This is a fair question. Water is essential for families, businesses, farms, and the environment. In many areas, water supplies are already stretched. It makes sense for people to want clear answers about what will change when a data center comes to town.
Oracle wants to help communities understand how our AI data centers will affect local water. For example, our centers in New Mexico, Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin use cooling methods, such as closed-loop systems, chosen with community needs in mind.
No One Size Fits All
The equipment in data centers does important work, but it also creates heat. Cooling systems remove this heat so the equipment can keep running smoothly.
There are several common ways data centers stay cool. To explain the differences, it helps to compare them to things you might use at home.
One method is like putting a fan in the window to move air and push out heat, which works well in cooler places. Another method uses evaporative cooling, similar to a swamp cooler or how sweat cools your skin. In evaporative cooling, water absorbs heat and turns into vapor, which lowers the temperature but uses up water that must be regularly replenished.
A third method is like home air conditioning. Air conditioners use a closed-loop system, which means the cooling fluid (such as water or refrigerant) is kept inside pipes and is reused over and over. Data centers can scale this approach for larger operations.
A well-designed data center uses reliable cooling methods that account for local environmental conditions. The key: Does the system use up the water or recirculate it?
A Closer Look at Closed-Loop Non-Evaporative Systems.
In a closed-loop system like a home air conditioner, the cooling fluid stays inside sealed pipes and is reused rather than being used up.
A closed-loop, non-evaporative cooling system in a data center uses coils and fans to move air, keeping servers efficient. These systems are built to avoid using local water, like evaporative systems.
Introducing Direct To Chip Closed Loop Non-Evaporative Cooling Systems
In our new AI data centers in New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Texas, Oracle uses advanced closed-loop systems called direct-to-chip cooling. Instead of cooling the whole room, direct-to-chip cooling removes heat right at the server’s processor a critical component using tubes that carry liquid directly to the chips. This proven method marks the next step in data center design, making our operations more efficient and reliable. Picture direct-to-chip closed-loop cooling like a car’s cooling system.
In a car, coolant moves through the engine, absorbs heat, and then releases it through the radiator, where air cools it down. The liquid doesn’t get used up, and you don’t need to refill it daily. The coolant keeps circulating, cooling the engine right where the heat is generated.
Oracle’s newest AI data centers use the same kind of closed-loop system as in cars, only on a larger scale.
Inside the data center, equipment generates heat like a car engine. Sealed pipes filled with liquid absorb and transfer the heat from the servers to heat exchangers; fans cool the liquid, which then recirculates without being consumed.
Simply put, the heat leaves the building, but the cooling liquid stays inside.
The water in the cooling system is like radiator fluid, not gasoline. It circulates and is reused by design.
Proven Design Backed By Data
It’s useful to look at how much water different cooling methods use.
Estimates vary depending on climate and design, but the trend is clear. For example, the Uptime Institute says a typical evaporative cooling system can use millions of gallons of water per megawatt of IT equipment each year. As water evaporates, it must be replenished regularly.
With direct-to-chip closed-loop non-evaporative cooling, the system is filled with water at the start, usually delivered by tanker. After that, it runs as a sealed recirculating system. There’s no evaporation, and there’s no need to keep adding water. Top-offs are rare and only needed in unusual situations. So data centers ongoing water use for cooling is basically zero.
At this point, someone might ask: ” Do you use any water at all? Once operational, daily water use primarily comes from typical office occupancy needs, such as kitchens, restrooms, and break rooms, and is comparable to that of a typical office building.
Why Does All This Matter for Communities?
For communities, using less drinking water for cooling safeguards local resources and reduces competition with other needs.
Oracle invests in local communities for protecting water, hiring locally, partnering with schools, and supporting infrastructure. Using direct-to-chip closed-loop systems reflects our belief that water is valuable and should be conserved.
