Some Businesses—Like Microsoft—are Water-Cooling Entire Buildings

Water cooling is a common method of keeping computing hardware at reasonable temperatures, particularly for gaming PCs, data centers, and similar high-demand applications. What if, however, a business used a similar method to keep their entire building climate-controlled?

Microsoft intends to do so in some new data centers, as many residences have begun implementing a version of this system.

Let’s begin by reviewing how water cooling works… after all, common sense typically tells us that water and computing hardware tend not to mix very well.

How Does Water Cooling Cool Down a Computer?

Water cooling relies on something called a closed-loop system. In this kind of system, no materials are released or introduced to the environment—in this case, water or some form of liquid coolant. Instead, the cooling system uses its tools to transfer energy from its source to the outside world in a strategic manner.

A computer’s components are outfitted with water blocks, which allow the generated heat to be pumped away from the components and out of the system once fans cool the liquid back down again. The liquid is then moved back to the components to absorb more heat, continuing the cycle.

This approach offers considerable benefits, as the heat dissipation potential is higher than that of traditional air cooling and can be done more quietly. The question then becomes: if this is possible within a computer or server infrastructure, why not scale this approach to the entire building?

Some residences have successfully done as much, and Microsoft intends to do so next.

While They Won’t Retrofit Their Existing Servers, Microsoft’s New Data Centers Will Take Advantage of Water Cooling

With plans to implement water cooling in new data centers in Arizona and Wisconsin, Microsoft plans to minimize its water consumption by utilizing this system—and while it will increase energy expenditures to some degree, it is certainly making the most of the resources they are using.

We’re Here to Assist Businesses in Optimizing Not Only Their IT Infrastructures, But Much More

While we may not be able to completely revamp your business’ location to change how its climate control works, that’s not to say we can’t do plenty of other things that will also create a significant benefit for your operations. We can, and we’d love the opportunity to do so for you.

Give us a call at 818-206-6383 to discuss what we can do for you and your business by using technology to its considerable potential.