The Fjord-Cooled Data Center

1sockchuck writes "A new data center project in Norway plans to use a fjord-powered cooling system, drawing cold water from an adjacent fjord to cool data halls. The fjord provides a ready supply of water at 8 degrees C (46 degrees F), eliminating the need for an energy-hungry chiller. The Green Mountain Data Center joins a small but growing number of data centers are slashing their cooling costs by using the environment as their chiller, tapping nearby lakes, wells and even the Baltic Sea."

Comments

Nothing new to see here... move along

[rbmyers]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankine_cycle
The industrial revolution was growing on chill-water supplied by nature long before the triode, never mind the transistor, had been invented. And all the environmental issues came up long before Al Gore was born.

Re:Nothing new to see here... move along

[TubeSteak]

And all the environmental issues came up long before Al Gore was born.

Gore was just graduating from college when Environmental Impact Statements became required under law.

FYI, the straw that broke the camel's back and forced modern american environmental laws into existence was a *blowout on a drilling rig off the shore of California.
A couple years later, the EPA was created and the Clean Water Act was passed, along with a bunch of other environmental laws.
I'd hope that not everyone has to learn responsible stewardship the way we did.

*The largest oil spill of its time, currently the #3 largest oil spill in the USA

Re:Queue the screams of hysteria

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

The results of the research, performed by the government agency for fisheries (not the nuclear industry) actually indicates that, on balance, fish growth is actually promoted, as are many other species of birds etc.

Opportunistic species appeared in very high abundances while species with more
narrow tolerances decreased or disappeared. The total production of macrofauna increased.

...

Total benthic biomass stayed at a high level in the Biotest basin up to 1989,
but during the later years there has been a general decrease in both
biomass and abundance of most common species and the risk that fish food
production is becoming critically low is evident. The scenario â" increasing
fish biomass â" heavy grazing â" benthic fauna collapse â" starving fish â" was
discussed already when the studies started in the Biotest basin. Today, ten
years later, we can see the first signs that these misgivings turn out to be justified.

Yeah, not quite exactly as you portrayed it. Plenty of other stuff in that report that is far, far more ambiguous than you made it out to be, like growth retardation and increased mortality rates for perch. There may be more perch but they are of suckier quality.

Re:Queue the screams of hysteria

[HopefulIntern]

Don't use umlaut on the word "fjord". We don't in Norway and neither should you. In fact, umlaut are not even used in Norwegian. If you are thinking of ø or æ or å they are Norwegian vowels but do not apply in this case.

Re:Queue the screams of hysteria

[IrquiM]

I wonder if someone would calculate how much power/heat would be needed to raise the temperature enough to affect it.

Considering that this "Fjord" Is actually the east side of a small island which has the North Sea on the west side - a huge amount!