Supercomputer Cools Off Using Groundwater 62
gManZboy writes "The Department of Energy is no stranger to supercomputers, and its Pacific Northwest National Lab has proven that it can continue to be an innovator in the field by using what the lab calls a unique groundwater-fed cooling system in the lab's newest supercomputer, Olympus. The novel cooling system translates normal groundwater into big savings for the new 162 teraflop supercomputer, which is being used in energy, chemical, and fluid dynamics research. The setup translates into 70% less energy use than traditionally cooled systems."
Re:how does it really work? (Score:5, Interesting)
The way the system at St. Andrews University worked when they first installed it was that water was pumped from a fountain in a quad outside through the computer, and then back out into the fountain. They got 2 for 1 –a pretty landscape gardening project, and a computer cooling system.
Re:Geothermal heat pumps (Score:5, Interesting)
It's already been done, price was $9M:
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/pucek.html [edwardsaquifer.net]