IBM Uses Hot Water To Cool Supercomputers
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden 
on 04.14.08
You may not be in the market for a supercomputer any time soon, but IBM's Power 575 is still impressive for both its computing speed and also its use of basically a system of water-filled copper pipes to cool down those hot processors. IBM says that means 80 percent less air conditioning and 40 percent less power required than older generations of comparable computing might.
Developed at IBM's Zurich lab, the system actually starts with fairly hot 45C water, running it past the blazingly hot microprocessors to bring them down to a (still toasty) 85C operating temperature, which then heats the incoming water beyond 50C, making it hot enough to be used as waste heat for building warming or municipal use. While water cooling in computing isn't a revolutionary concept, its now considered more cost effective and is being revived by IBM as energy costs for data centers spiral upwards. Via ::IBM Zurich Research
See also: The Problem Is Us: U.S. Data Center Growth Spawning Climate Disaster
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They should really consider onsite cogeneration.
Natural gas fired turbine (basically fail proof) would provide electricity at roughly 30% efficiency. The waste heat could be used to power an absorption chiller that could then chill water that would cool the chips. Overall system efficiency could be greater than 75%
Yes, on-site generation using microturbines may be more efficient especially when you combine its cooling/heating capabilities. As an added benefit you could sell back any unused energy produced back to the electric grid. An interesting technology that is becoming more popular:
http://outervillage.com/content/microturbine-technology-power-data-centers
Vassilios
Is it just me, or is IBM stepping up big time in the semi-conductor business. I mean, they come out with a new fast, large and cheap flash storage technology, litterally "lightning" fast new CPU's and there seems to be a weekly report about some new advancement in CPU technology. Also they are the brains behind every current generation game console placing IBM technology in dozens of millions of homes. Should Intel and AMD start getting worried? Was Apple dumb for dropping IBM in favour of Intel? I really hope IBM does push into the desktop market if this is what the are coming up with lately, AMD doesn't seem to even be a blip on Intel's radar and Intel CPU's are not dropping in price without any competition.
Im glad to see an old concept still in use.
IBM seems to be getting an excessive amount of publicity for a very old design. If I remember correctly, Seymour Cray used a similar design in 1960 in the CDC 6600. He used freon flowing through tubes in contact with discrete transistor mounting bases to keep them cool while running at a very high clock speed for the times.
We should applaud IBM for reusing Seymour's design as well as many other concepts he left for this generation of supercomputers.