Thread

Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage

384 points · 503 comments · sensanaty

tptacek · 1791145040 · focus · HN ↗
So, basically, not a meaningful amount of water at all. Credit to the story authors for taking the time to frame what 13MM gallons actually works out to.
1. mrb · 1791146490 · focus · HN ↗
  Yes. As another comparison point, 13 million gallons per year amounts to 24 gallons per minute which is about 5 (five) bathtub faucets running 24/7/365.
  The water bill alone would be only $100k/yr assuming average US domestic rate of $8 per 1000 gallons.
  1. rtpg · 1791157940 · focus · HN ↗
    Median US household water usage is 130 gallons per day according to Wiki.[0]
    So ~280 households worth of water? Though the US seems to be on the high end, using 3x more than Japan and 4x more than France (according to a random website)[1]
    To state the obvious most people are not running big faucets all the time, and in fact are using way less.
    It seems like a bit of a self-own to not just use household or per-capita usage here to prove a point though.
    [0]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_water_use_in_the_U.S._and_Canada" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residential_water_use_in_the_U... [1]: <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/water/" rel="nofollow">https://www.worldometers.info/water/
    WarmWash · 1791161005 · focus · HN ↗
    Framings like this are bad because people think 280 households of water is a lot.
    If we instead look at almonds, something that is a bit of a luxury nut and not at all a necessity, each almond takes about 1 gallon of water to grow.
    A single truck shipment of almonds contains somewhere around 40-50 million almonds all packed up ready for their delivery to Costo or wherever.
    So to frame this another way, Google's DC uses approximately 1/3 of a single truck load of almonds worth of water a year. Most almonds are grown in drought stricken California as well.
    I'm sure we'll be staging the protests and forgoing our emerald nuts 100 cal snack packs any day now.
    subroutine · 1791174774 · focus · HN ↗
    What happens to the water used by data centers? Is it still clean, just warmed up?
    causesothere · 1791178441 · focus · HN ↗
    It's turned into steam. It's sent up into the atmosphere.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.