Post #2843117

2026-05-25 18:50 UTC

Today on the radio I heard that some of the biggest datacenters can be 600 megawatts or more. This is, I'm assuming, the thermal output of the cooling system. Global warming potential of fossil fuel emissions aside, where do people think that heat goes? Like, they understand that is going to atmosphere, right? In an industrial scale. Right? We are like the frogs in a pot of heating water. Except we're also building the stove.

Replies (1)

@mkj@social.mkj.earth 2026-05-25 19:01

@PetrichorSquirrel@meow.social I think it's the power input, but well, pretty much all of that is going to turn into heat one way or the other and unless that heat is moved outside of the building *somehow* (treating the atmosphere or nearby waterways or whatever as conveniently located heatsinks), the datacenter interior temperature will just keep rising until it reaches some value where, one way or the other, the equipment shuts down. So I do think your argument holds either way.

Open ##2843116