An underground facility powered by above ground wind and solar could provide both the needed power and temperature control, while containing the impacts from sound and machinery.
A question on this one, how does being underground help with the temperature control? If anything it sounds like that makes cooling harder.
Soil is a great insulator - protected from sun the sheer mass makes it much, much cooler than above ground. Without the additional external heat its much easier to climate conteol.
(Yes it does get hotter the further you go but that’s due to proximity to the planet’s core…ain’t no one putting a dc down that far)
That’s exactly what makes me think it’s harder. Datacenters need to move dozens (or these days hundreds) of megawatts of power away. For this they either heat air or evaporate water both of which flows away through the atmosphere, or - much more rarely unfortunately - they heat water which flows away through pipes to heat other buildings.
Energy coming in from sunlight or warm surrounding air is negligible, the important factor is the energy coming in electrically and being converted to heat. For that a surrounding insulator is the last thing you want.
You know conservation of energy in a closed system, yes? What do you think happens when dozens of megawatt of power is transported in electrically, and get turned into heat in a bunch of semiconductors and electrical motors, and you don’t transport any of that heat out?
You do realise cooling and heat export is possible with an insulated building, yea? In fact the better the insulation the more effective the climate control.
Don’t “dude” me, you’re the one claiming DCs don’t want thermal bridging, when in fact they are all about somehow building the maximum possible multilane bridge of doom to our atmosphere to get rid of all the heat as effectively as possible.
Your common wisdom of good insulation is good for effective climate control only applies to buildings where an insignificant amount of heat in generated inside.
It’s drastically cooler underground until you get really deep in the mantle, and most importantly, the temperature is stable. No weather fluctuations.
Yes it is cooler in the beginning, but only for a short time, if you start pumping dozens (or these days hundreds) of megawatts of power into the ground it will heat up very quickly. Earth and rock is terrible at conducting heat.
Weather is not the issue for a datacenter, the heat generated from converting electrical energy, that’s the problem to solve.
A question on this one, how does being underground help with the temperature control? If anything it sounds like that makes cooling harder.
What makes you think it’s harder to keep cool?
Soil is a great insulator - protected from sun the sheer mass makes it much, much cooler than above ground. Without the additional external heat its much easier to climate conteol.
(Yes it does get hotter the further you go but that’s due to proximity to the planet’s core…ain’t no one putting a dc down that far)
That’s exactly what makes me think it’s harder. Datacenters need to move dozens (or these days hundreds) of megawatts of power away. For this they either heat air or evaporate water both of which flows away through the atmosphere, or - much more rarely unfortunately - they heat water which flows away through pipes to heat other buildings.
Energy coming in from sunlight or warm surrounding air is negligible, the important factor is the energy coming in electrically and being converted to heat. For that a surrounding insulator is the last thing you want.
Yeah nah, that’s not how it works. Most dcs are insulated to prevent thermal bridging to the outside world
Hahahah absolutely not.
You know conservation of energy in a closed system, yes? What do you think happens when dozens of megawatt of power is transported in electrically, and get turned into heat in a bunch of semiconductors and electrical motors, and you don’t transport any of that heat out?
Dude.
You do realise cooling and heat export is possible with an insulated building, yea? In fact the better the insulation the more effective the climate control.
Don’t “dude” me, you’re the one claiming DCs don’t want thermal bridging, when in fact they are all about somehow building the maximum possible multilane bridge of doom to our atmosphere to get rid of all the heat as effectively as possible.
Your common wisdom of good insulation is good for effective climate control only applies to buildings where an insignificant amount of heat in generated inside.
Yeah nah mate. Not what i’m saying, and if you want to make up stupid shit to pretend argue against, you can do it without involving me.
Okay, maybe just ruminate on how an insulating layer of soil helps with removing heat, maybe it will come to you later.
It’s drastically cooler underground until you get really deep in the mantle, and most importantly, the temperature is stable. No weather fluctuations.
This is why wine caves were invented before refrigeration - consistently cool, stable temperatures.
Yes it is cooler in the beginning, but only for a short time, if you start pumping dozens (or these days hundreds) of megawatts of power into the ground it will heat up very quickly. Earth and rock is terrible at conducting heat.
Weather is not the issue for a datacenter, the heat generated from converting electrical energy, that’s the problem to solve.