Data centres: The new tech stopping chips from overheating

Finding greener ways to keep giant new data centres cool is a challenge.

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"We'll have fluid that comes up and [then] shower down, or trickle down, onto a component," says Jonathan Ballon, chief executive at liquid cooling firm Iceotope. "Some things will get sprayed."

In other cases, the industrious gizmos recline in circulating baths of fluid, which ferries away the heat they generate, enabling them to function at very high speeds, known as "overclocking".

"We have customers that are overclocking at all times because there is zero risk of burning out the server," says Mr Ballon. He adds that one client, a hotel chain in the US, is planning to use heat from hotel servers to warm guest rooms, the hotel laundry and swimming pool.

Without cooling, data centres fall over.