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Utah's massive NSA data center using more water
WRAL ^ | February 2, 2015 | Associated Press

Posted on 02/04/2015 9:08:53 PM PST by Colofornian

Edited on 02/04/2015 11:02:54 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]

Records show the National Security Agency data center in Utah used more water in 2014, though the usage is still far lower than expected. The water usage peaked at 6.6 million gallons for the month of August.


(Excerpt) Read more at wral.com ...


TOPICS: US: Utah
KEYWORDS: computers; nationalsecurity; nsa; waterusage
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To: Ezekiel
The water is used to cool...

Then it just disappears never to be seen again. They should charge them more until they put it back.

21 posted on 02/04/2015 11:38:21 PM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: The Cajun

Yep...sad...hope yer well, stay safe !


22 posted on 02/04/2015 11:43:12 PM PST by Squantos ( Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet ...)
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To: Jim Robinson
A few weeks ago I spent a couple of hours trying to find the location of this facility on Google Earth--- unsuccessfully.

Anyone have a clue of its coordinates?

23 posted on 02/05/2015 12:55:22 AM PST by publius911 (Formerly Publius6961)
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To: itsahoot

Mebbe they just don’t want to talk about using it for the hot tub toga parties...


24 posted on 02/05/2015 1:56:00 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: publius911

Pretty sure this is it on Google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/iHYsa

Bing version: http://binged.it/1I7hyme

It was Camp Williams airstrip previously. (Switch to Bing’s “birds eye” view & you can still see the old airstrip).


25 posted on 02/05/2015 1:56:25 AM PST by Drago
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To: All

Cut ‘em off!! http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/11/utah-lawmaker-wants-to-shut-off-nsas-water-supply-for-good/

Recycling? http://fox13now.com/2014/05/12/bluffdale-to-recycle-some-nsa-water/


26 posted on 02/05/2015 2:08:23 AM PST by Drago
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To: Ezekiel

That is some very serious electronics cooling going on. It is the NSA Memory Death Star of privacy invasion.


27 posted on 02/05/2015 4:46:23 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Still Thinking

Well, the water usage increased but the water volume once used is the same as the water volume before use.
the change is an increase in temperature rather than a decrease in volume


28 posted on 02/05/2015 4:50:45 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: bert

You may be right, but I always thought the cooling effect was a phenomenon of evaporation that does the cooling.


29 posted on 02/05/2015 4:52:25 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Flick Lives

C ‘mon NSA, just jiggle the handle once in a while. sheesh!


30 posted on 02/05/2015 4:56:52 AM PST by King Moonracer (Bad lighting and cheap fabric, that's how you sell clothing.....)
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To: Gaffer
I don't know really know but here are the chillers and I don't know how much vapor is cast off


31 posted on 02/05/2015 5:02:58 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
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To: bert

Thanks for the pictures. I googled water evaporation and temperature reduction and it seems the cooling does come from the evaporation having to do with energy states, etc. That’s why there is so much surface area on these chillers.

My guess is that there is a significant reduction in water amount after having been through these.

Another thing you might have seen is some of the outdoor places in LV using fine misters spread around the tables, etc. These mists pretty much evaporate completely and cool the surrounding air volume....


32 posted on 02/05/2015 5:10:41 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: The Cajun

No, it is not inefficient. And no, they almost certainly aren’t just “flushing the water down the drain” as you suggest.

Evaporating water to cool the water left behind is a key part of most large commercial/institutional HVAC systems. That’s why there are cooling towers on top of / next to said structures.

Evaporating water to provide condenser cooling is wildly more thermodynamically efficient than cooling a fluid with air across a heat exchanger, as you suggest. Sometimes there are reasons to do it, but it is certainly not preferred for a large system like this.


33 posted on 02/05/2015 5:16:00 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: The Cajun

At the water consumption rate they quoted, the system should be using a cooling tower for indirect cooling of the computers. Also, air cooling would not be an efficient choice as you need a greater than 50 deg F approach temperature.

If I were designing a system for this, I would use cooling tower water to heat exchange against a mechanical chiller with the chiller having a closed loop running to the electronic equipment.


34 posted on 02/05/2015 5:39:20 AM PST by Hootowl99
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To: bert

I know. Just thinking big goobermint types need to be more obedient to the laws they think we’re going to honor than they expect of us. The farmers don’t destroy the water either. It still continues to circulate in the water cycle.


35 posted on 02/05/2015 8:25:29 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Hootowl99

I tend to like to use cooling water (or water cooled by cooling water with a heat exchanger, or even a closed loop cooling tower) rather than chilled water with electronic stuff. Often the cooling water is cool enough to remove enough heat without the risk of condensing water out of the ambient air onto the insides of the electronic stuff (plus much cheaper per BTU than refrigerated chilled water).


36 posted on 02/05/2015 8:27:35 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Squantos

The water is evaporated in cooling towers to cool the left-behind water to run through the chillers’ condensers. Large water chillers are where the refrigeration happens. These would be large centrifugal chillers for an installation like this, almost certainly. The evaporator side of the chiller would make chilled water, that is a separate closed loop (condenser/cooling tower side would be open). The chilled water would feed air handlers with chilled water coils serving the computer room.

Back to the water question, some is blown down to drain, as the water left behind at some point has too large a concentration of minerals and contaminants. But most of it is evaporated in cooling towers.

The low-level heat produced is unsuitable for economical electrical power generation. While technically possible, it’s just not do-able on a rational basis.


37 posted on 02/05/2015 9:35:00 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Jim Robinson

Is the water being re-cycled as in Green Conservation?


38 posted on 02/05/2015 9:47:15 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Gaffer
You may be right, but I always thought the cooling effect was a phenomenon of evaporation that does the cooling.

The evaporative effect is what works for us in the Summer time as we sweat...that's one way. But a heat exchanger uses a different principle in a closed loop system.

39 posted on 02/05/2015 9:54:16 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Life and death are but temporary states. But Freedom endures forever.)
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To: bert
best, technically, those are cooling towers, not chillers.

The chillers are inside in a mechanical room somewhere. Something like this, almost certainly:


40 posted on 02/05/2015 9:56:05 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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