At a workshop in June 2026, researchers and industry members met at the National Laboratory of the Rockies to discuss the challenges—and solutions—to computing facility cooling with cold underground thermal energy storage. Photo by Tara Wertz, National Laboratory of the Rockies.
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A New National Laboratory Study Finds that Underground Thermal Energy Storage Can Keep Servers Cool Year Round
To ensure equipment in computing facilities function, they need to be kept cool, which can require a lot of energy and water—as much as 40% of their total annual energy consumption.
Typical cooling systems blow cold air over components using a water-cooled fan coil, or flow cool water through pipes next to the equipment. These methods can add to the growing loads straining the grid and require expensive, time-consuming upgrades to grid infrastructure to expand capacity and transmission abilities.
