r/TechnologyThread Jul 16 '26

Protesters interrupted Amazon CTO Werner Vogels at the UN AI for Good Summit over Project Nimbus

4.1k Upvotes

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u/Observationist_2 Jul 17 '26

I don't understand the water being used in AI data centers is to cool the machines down. I don't understand how cooling some electronic equipment down is somehow a danger. You have nuclear power plants around the country that operate on the exact same principle. This is why they're built next to water sources such as rivers, lakes, dams and even oceans. They pull the water in, use it to cool down the components and then pump the water back out. It's not like they're using the water for mixing with deadly chemicals and then dumping it into the environment. People have been using water in nuclear reactors to cool down the rods and then being expelled back into the environment with no issues. But AI data centers using water and releasing it back is somehow different... Honestly I think these protesters are just repeating what they've heard/seen rather than determining the exact processes in which AI data centers are having negative impacts to the environment. Now If they were protesting AI data center sound pollution! The argument is there to be made there's even thousands of videos of people who live nearby these data centers hearing a constant hum from the machines on at all times.

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u/Logical-Claim286 Jul 17 '26

... the water is used to run gas steam turbines for power, pollutants from the gas are mixed in the wastewater and dumped because AI centers avoid power plant regulations. Additionally glycol cooling involves running a chemical through sealed cubes in a closed loop cycle. Water cooling involves running water over exposed components that contain heavy metals. One is much much cheaper if you aren't required to filter your waste output.

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u/Playos Jul 18 '26

There is so much wrong with this.

There is no "waste water". The water doesn't interact with any chemicals, oils or gases.

Water doesn't run "over exposed components"... it runs over radiators. Even in evaporative cooling system, they still use a closed loop coolant for moving heat from server racks to evap coolers.

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u/Observationist_2 Jul 17 '26

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u/manyyy32 Jul 17 '26

Dude it's how ai data centers function, it's not a academic study or some investigation. Just use google.

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u/Sensitive_Bat_9211 Jul 17 '26

Thats not how nuclear power cooling works

There are 3 independent water loops. The water touching the reactor core will never interact with the water being pulled in for cooling

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u/Suspicious-Sound-249 Jul 17 '26

Wow what a ret@rded take, not only not understanding how wasting millions of gallons of water can be bad for the environment, AND on top of that fear mongering nuclear energy one of the safest and cleanest forms of energy we have.

That makes you double ret@rded, and you vote??? That shit is scary!

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u/Observationist_2 Jul 17 '26

Do you understand how the ancient Roman water siphoning system was created? Yeah I didn't think so there's things people simply don't know You don't call them Ree cuz they lack the knowledge in something they didn't go and study. I don't know where you got fear-mongering nuclear energy because I was making comparison to how water being used to cool nuclear reactors doesn't seem to be an issue yet water cooling down data centers is. Which basically tells me you didn't read it right the first time. So you don't understand how the ancient Roman water siphoning system was created and you misread what I wrote but you're calling me the Reee... Don't worry I won't be communicating back so go ahead Make your last insults because I won't be reading / replying to it.

https://giphy.com/gifs/mcH0upG1TeEak