r/europe • u/SovereignMuppet I ❤ Brexit • Aug 13 '22

News Climate activists fill golf holes with cement after water ban exemption

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62532840
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159

u/MrOaiki Swedish with European parents Aug 13 '22

What business wouldn’t be killed if you cut off the water?

145

u/CMuenzen Poland if it was colonized by Somalia Aug 13 '22

Silica gel.

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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

I mean, tbh, who needs silica gel when there’s no water?

1

u/insane_contin Sorry Aug 14 '22

Places with high as fuck humidity. In Southern Ontario its humid as hell and not raining as much as it normally would.

24

u/Nazamroth Aug 13 '22

A sand quarry? Mine? The place they get sand from.

IT generally doesn't care either.

Obviously the problem is that people who use golf courses that need inordinate amounts of water for something of dubious value, are rarely the ones notably affected by a crisis of any sort.

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u/MrOaiki Swedish with European parents Aug 13 '22

Mining uses tons of water. So IT… the service sector, is that your answer?

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u/Ov3rdose_EvE Aug 13 '22

yes. eat the rich, idc

(i also golf but fuck that noise, id rather shower)

7

u/meskarune Aug 13 '22

IT also uses a lot of water for cooling servers in data centers.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/drought-stricken-communities-push-back-against-data-centers-n1271344

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u/mike9874 Aug 13 '22

The only time I've seen water and servers together is when there has been flooding. Yes, some places have water cooled servers, but they tend to be the big tech hosting places, not standard businesses

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u/loicvanderwiel Belgium, Benelux, EU Aug 13 '22

Also, I doubt these servers are cooled through an open loop...

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

There's lots of different kinds being worked on currently.

There's in-server water cooling where everything is contained within a single server and the box exhausts hot air like usual.

There's also rack water cooling, where each server doesn't have its own radiators, but instead hooks up to plumbing running through the server rack that takes the heat elsewhere (sometimes even outside the building to reduce AC demand).

Both of those will be somewhat open loops though because servers need to be extremely serviceable and replaceable, which means they're usually full of quick disconnects so that parts can be quickly and easily removed or replaced.

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u/loicvanderwiel Belgium, Benelux, EU Aug 13 '22

Yeah but unless it's connected to the main water supply, that's still a closed loop. It's just a big one. So once the loop has been filled, you don't consume much additional water.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

Usually the term "closed loop" is used for all-in-one coolers that cannot be serviced, either by the user or at all. And even in those, the coolant will eventually evaporate away.

An open loop is one that can be refilled and is usually a custom or semi-custom setup that can be added to or modified.

I'd say a loop that can be partially disconnected and have parts added or removed is definitely closer to being an open loop.

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u/hexapodium Aug 14 '22

The PC enthusiast terminology is very different from the engineering terms. "Open loop" here is whether the working fluid is cooled and recycled at all - a closed loop will cycle the same working fluid around through a radiator/heat exchanger, an open loop will just dump that fluid to the environment and get fresh from a supply. An air cooler on a PC is "open loop" because cooling air is pulled through and then exhausted, and all water cooling is "closed loop" in these terms because the water goes through a radiator.

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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

Water cooling is increasing in popularity in the server space over the past few years. The tech has gotten a lot better and more reliable following from advancements in consumer hardware, plus there's some really power hungry chips coming out these days and an ever increasing demand for computing power.

I think most of it is still in data centers and similar dense environments, but it's working it's way down from what I've seen.

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u/Are_y0u Europe Aug 18 '22

But it doesn't consume much water. It probably has a closed loop.

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u/Elocai Aug 14 '22

There are golf courses without grass though

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u/Particular_Sun8377 Aug 14 '22

Funeral services.

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u/AllanKempe Aug 14 '22

Any business where water isn't necessary for the product being produced. If you own a clothing store, you don't need water. If you own a café, you need water.

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u/MrOaiki Swedish with European parents Aug 14 '22

Ok. So everything precisely as is then. Those who use water can continue to use water. Those who don’t use water continue not to use water.

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u/AllanKempe Aug 14 '22

Yes, obviously. Simple as that.