Hacker News Reader

I don't get it. If this is all about heat, I would think that putting the data center beside the ocean and then pumping seawater around to cool things would be far easier than sinking the entire kit. Even if they really really want to be underwater, I'd assume digging an artificial lake and pumping water in and out would be easier than dealing with an actual ocean.

View on HN

Eh, I think it's indeed more of an intellectual curiosity than anything else, but personally I cannot support enough our encroachment on the ocean. It truly is the last frontier on the surface of the Earth that we have yet to reliably explore.

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have a lot more potential to expand our understanding of this planet and I think it is exciting. Just because we can't go there doesn't mean we can't tap into its power.

At the risk of sounding like a BBC documentary, the oceans are the engine of this planet and they deserve to be investigated thoroughly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermohaline_circulation

It's probably more of an exercise than anything else

I imagine it would be better for maintenance to use the seawater to cool the coolant itself, that way they aren't pumping salt into their datacenter.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com