The Best Way to Reduce Water Waste

1. TheBest WaytoReduceWater Waste: ImmersionCooling Societyisbecoming increasingly awarethat the worldisrunning outof fresh water. Infact,theWorldEconomicForumpredictsthat“thegapbetweenglobal water supplyanddemand isprojected toreach 40% by 2030.” That isif significant changesaren’t made.One waythat influentialbusinesseslikedata centerscanhelpisbyreducingtheirwaterwaste,andtheinnovativesolution ofimmersioncoolingcan help them do justthat. Immersioncooling isa methodof cooling electronic componentsbysubmerging them in a dielectric fluid. Heat is transferred from the components to the fluid, effectivelyeliminating theneed for other cooling methods. Theresult is environmentaland economic benefits datacenters shouldconsider. Inthisarticle, wewilldiscusstheissueofexcessivewaterwaste indatacenters andhow the implementation of immersioncoolingtechnology can helpto significantlyreduce boththeir wateruseand waste. As you read, youwill learn therelevanceof this issue,how immersioncoolingworks, andhowitismore advantageous thancurrent coolingmethods found inmostdata centers. AverageWater Consumption andWasteInData Centers Beforewe dive intoimmersioncoolingtechnology, it’s importantwediscussthe overarchingissueandwhy this alternativecooling method is anecessarystepto solvingit. Waterisanaturalresource that many people takeforgrantedand assume will always be available, whetherthis isthroughcost-free methods,like theirhome plumbing system,orforpurchaseinstores. Unfortunately, research hasshown thatthis resourcewillbecomescarcerasthe world’s populationgrows,climate andenvironmentalissuesworsen,and thedemandfor companieslike data centersincreases. Researchconductedin2015discoveredthat one15MWdatacenterconsumed an estimated 130 million liters of water per year. This water is used directly for cooling and indirectly through the water requirements ofnon-renewableelectricity generation.

2. Onanationalscale,thecombined waterconsumptionof datacenters isan estimated 1.7 billionlitersperday. This mightseem smallcompared to the1218 billionlitersofwater consumedperday inthe United Statesoverall, but thereis nodenying the figure’s significance. Itisalsoworthmentioning that lessthanathirdof American datacentersarenot fully transparent in measuring and providing their water consumption figures, so the aforementioned statistic of 1.7 billion liters per day is likely smaller than the actualnumber. CurrentCoolingMethodsUsedinDataCenters Understanding these figures on data center water consumption comes with understanding what cooling methods mostcurrentlyusefortheirelectrical components. AirCooling The most popularwaytocoolelectricalequipmentandcomponentsindata centers today is through air cooling, which utilizes large air conditioning units or fanstomove chilled airaroundtheequipment and coolthem.A small1MWdata centerusing this method of cooling usesanestimated25.5millionliters ofwater per year. This methodhasmany inefficiencies, startingwithits extremelyhighelectrical needto functionproperly. It isestimated that upto40% of adata center’s monthly electricityconsumptiongoes directlytocoolingits components,whichis aseparateenvironmentalissue entirely sincethe powerplantsthat provide this energy source emits a significantamountofCO2 andH2O.Unfortunately, despitethehighdemands ofthis coolingmethod,it oftenfailsat sufficiently cooling equipment, leading tooverheatingandpotentialdamage. Adiabatic andEvaporativeCooling Additionalcooling methodsused bydatacenters are adiabatic andevaporative cooling.Adiabaticcoolinginvolvesreducingheatthroughachangeinair pressurebyvolumeexpansion.Adiabaticprocessesenablefreecoolingmethods whichusenaturalphenomenato regulatetemperatures. Evaporative cooling utilizes chillers withcooling towersto coolwaterbeforecirculatingitinto data centers. While both cooling methods do not rely on fans or air conditioning units, they consume the maximum waterindatacenters.

3. WaterCooling Thisiswhymany datacentersoptedforapopularalternativeofpumping chilled water through cooling coils surrounding the data center racks. As you can imagine, thistoorequiresasignificantamountofwatertofunction,butthebenefit of this cooling method is that it revealed that utilizing water to remove heat is much more efficient thanmechanicalairconditioning. This set the groundworkfor liquidimmersioncooling. WhatIs LiquidImmersionCooling and How Does itReduce WaterWaste? The ideaof fully submerginghardware inaliquid wasunderstandablymetwith skepticism, but immersioncoolingnot only provedthatit canbedone safely, but thatitcanalso outperform otherwidelyusedcooling methods. Immersion cooling is more energy-efficient, faster, and reliable than air conditioningunitsorwatercoils, despite appearingtousemorewaterthanboth combined. How?The answer liesinthe coolingprocess itself. With liquid immersion cooling, all of the heat generated by the electrical componentsistransferred directly, nottowater,buttoanengineeredfluid(a dielectric/non-conductiveliquidsuchas3M™Fluorinert™ElectronicLiquidsor 3M™Novec™EngineeredFluids),which canbe recycledandreused.Thereis noneedto continually pumpinfreshwater, as withwatercoils,noristhereany evaporationor condensation, as withair conditioningunits. In fact, the only water that is actually consumed by liquid immersion cooling is whatis lost to evaporation. This amounts to less than1%ofthe totalwaterused intraditionalcoolingmethods,makingitamuchmore sustainable option.The technology alsorequiressignificantlylessenergyto operate,effectivelyreducing thedata center’sconsumptioninthisregard as well. While immersion cooling in itself is highly beneficial, there are two implementation methods: single-phase immersion and two-phase immersion. Eachhas its unique designandadvantagesthatcanbenefitany data center. Single-PhaseImmersionCooling Single-phase immersioncooling works byplacingthedatacenter’shardwarein anenclosure, chassis, ortankand thenimmersing itin dielectric syntheticor hydrocarbonoils.Anyheat emitted bythehardware is directly absorbedbythe oilandthenpumped and circulated throughoutthe space.

4. To effectively remove theheatand keepthe oilcoolaroundthehardware, any hotoilispumpedoutbyasecondary air-to-liquid orliquid-to-liquidheat exchangerwhile cooloilispumped into the space. • Two-PhaseImmersionCooling • Two-phase immersioncoolingworks verysimilarly tosingle-phase cooling immersion but takes the process a step further using a fluid that is carefully engineeredtohaveaboilingpointthatisbelowthetemperatureofheatemitted bycommoncomponents of data centerhardware. • This allows thefluid to reject heat byturninginto avaporgas thatthen comes intocontactwithaspecially designedvapor-to-liquidheatexchangerlocatedon the top ofthetank. The inclusionof this exchangereliminatestheneedfora secondaryheat exchanger and pumpingsystem. • The overarchingbenefits of immersioncoolingversusair cooling include: • Mostenergy efficientcooling method currently inexistence • Anestimate tentotwentyfoldincreasein heatrejectioncapacity • ReducedCAPEX • Soundlesssystem • Requireslessinstallationandoperationspace • ImprovedTCO • Wasteheatcanbereused • Dielectric fluids arecleaner and reducemaintenanceneeds and system complexity • Quickinstallationandeasydeployment • Reducesoreliminatestheneedforwater (apart fromheatrejection) • Between the two cooling immersion methods, 2-phase is undoubtedly the superior choice and will likely become a key influence in the future of data centers. • FinalThoughts • Two-Phase Liquid Immersion Technology is gaining traction in today’s market as ameansofcombattingcompounding datacenterconcernsrelated toenergyand resource consumption. Nowhere are such issues perhaps better revealed than in thecurrent contentious debate aboutwaterusagerequirementsfordatacenter facilitiesindraught-strickenwesternstates.

5. TMGcore:TheHomeofImmersionComputing Deciding to replace outdated data center cooling methods with liquid immersion cooling canbeasignificantinvestment,buttheoverarchingenvironmentaland economicbenefitsoutweightheshort-terminconveniences.Ifyou’reinterestedin making this crucialshift inyourbusiness,TMGcorecan help. TMGcoreisan award-winning provider of high-performance computation solutions and manufacturerofevolutionary commercial-gradehardware specializing inliquid immersioncoolingtechnology. Our suite ofcutting-edge solutionsincludes theOTTO,CryptoCore,ComputeCore,andaselectionofhigh-qualityimmersion ready serversthatcanbenefit datacenters ofallsizesand scopes.Contact ustodaytolearnmore!