Ask HN: How to reuse waste heat and water from AI datacenters?

> Ask HN: How to reuse waste heat and water from AI datacenters?

> - Steam Turbine

> - Thermoelectrics

> - Gravel Battery, Sand Battery

> - OTEC: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (needs a 20C gradient)

"Ask HN: Does OTEC work with datacenter heat, or thermoelectrics?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40821522

> - Water Sterilization

FWIU most datacenters waste the sterilized water as steam, which has some evaporative cooling value?

In which markets is it already possible for datacenters [and other industrial production facilities] to sell or give sterilized water to the water supply utility?

"Ask HN: Methods for removing parts per trillions of PFAS from water?" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40036764 ; RO: Reverse Osmosis, Zwitterionic hydrogels (that are reusable if washed with ethanol)

> - Heat Pipe contract

E.g. Copenhagen Atomics wants to sell a heat pipe contract promise and manage the (Thorium+ waste burner) heat production.

It takes extra heat to pump heat through a tube underground to a building next door, but it is worth it.

> - Commercial and Residential HVAC Heat

The OTEC Wikipedia article mentions Ammonia as a Working fluid (a thermofluid), but Ammonia.

Sustainable thermofluids for heat pumps would be a good use for materials design AI.

"AI Designs Magnet Free of Rare-Earth Metals in Just 3 Months" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40775959

> - Air Filter Production (CO2, Graphene, Heat)

> - Water Filter Production (CO2, Graphene, Heat)

> - Onsite manufacturing with Carbon & Heat (See: Datacenter Inputs)

Also meet ASTM spec for which products produced onsite.

> - Carbon-based Chip Production (2D Graphene and other forms of Carbon)

"Ask HN: Can CPUs etc. be made from just graphene and/or other carbon forms?" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40719725

> - Thermoforming products (e.g. out of now easily-captured CO2 to Graphene and other forms of Carbon)

> - Geopolymer production: pads to mount racks on, bricks, radially-curved outwall blocks

Is this new peptide glass a functional substitute for "water glass" in other geopolymer formulas? "Self-healing glass from a simple peptide – just add water" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40677095

> - Open-Source CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics; use the waste heat to pay for CFD HPC time to reduce the waste heat with better materials, better facility design with passive thermofluidics and energy reclamation

Quantum CFD. https://westurner.github.io/hnlog/#comment-39954180 Ctrl-F CFD, SQS

> - Datacenter Inputs: [Earthmoving, Infrastructure], Water, Air, Concrete, Beams, Electricity, Turbines, Bolts, Racks, Fans, PCs, Copper power Wires and data Cabling, Bandwidth, Fiber Cabling

Biocomposites and Titanium are strong enough for beams and fan blades; though on corrosion due to water, titanium probably wins. "Cheap yet ultrapure titanium metal might enable widespread use in industry" (2024) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40768549

Is there a carbon-based copper alternative for cabling that's flexible enough to work at CAT-5/6/7/8 ethernet cable; 40GBase-T at 2000 Mhz?

There appear to be electron vortices and superconductivity in carbon at room temperature.

Can we replace copper with carbon in cables and computers?

> - Datacenter Outputs: Boiled Water, Warm Air, Data, recyclable building materials, Electricity

- "Ask HN: Why don't datacenters have passive rooflines like Net Zero homes?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37579505