Why do datacenters continuously use more water instead of recycling the same water in a closed loop system?
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I don’t know of a data center that uses open loop cooling (dumping heated water).
What I do know of is evap cooling. In this case, you have a closed loop, with radiators outside. Those radiators operate passively (well, with fans) for most of the time. You can spray water on the radiators, and the evaporating water will help cool down the loop. (In these systems there are still usually chillers, to bring the water down to the correct temperature, but letting radiators do most of the work ahead of time is more energy efficient)
What I could see working, though I don’t know of any facilities that do this, is having river water or ocean water pumped over those radiators. Similar to nuclear plants. In this case the liquid doing the cooling is still in a closed loop, but is using another body of water to bring it’s temperature down. Depending on the location, chillers may not be needed either.
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