Cooling
concerning the need to cool
data centres and the waste
heat generated in the process
is significant, but there appears
little enthusiasm for tackling
the problem. In most cases, the
waste heat is ejected from the
data centre into the atmosphere,
which is not particularly
environmentally friendly. system, the heat can be captured
and used rather than blown out
of the building. Liquid cooling
systems can help to heat a building,
a swimming pool or even to provide
hot water for showers. It might be
possible, for example, to house a
data centre in a basement below
a hotel and use the excess heat to
provide heat to the whole hotel.
So much hot air Accelerating momentum
As with combustion engine cars,
air cooled data centres are likely
to hit their own limitations in the
face of increased power costs and
surging cooling requirements.
One potential solution would be
to use liquid cooling. There are
several different approaches,
such as immersing the equipment
in a non-conductive liquid
(dielectric) or using water with
a heat exchanger to cool certain
components (non-dielectric),
particularly microprocessors.
Like electric cars, liquid
cooling has been touted as
a solution to the problems
associated with air-cooling of data
centres for several years, but there
has been a reluctance to promote
it or adopt it. And it’s nothing new.
Water cooling, for example, was
used for mainframes as far back as
the 1970s.
The future is liquid
possibly to the point of science
fiction, but the adoption of electric
car technology made sense. Proof
is provided by the fact so many
other car manufacturers are
expected to follow them into the
electric car market over the next
two to three years.
Data centre cooling finds
itself in a similar situation. The
need for in