Given the strong debate and varied perspectives surrounding the proposed Westfield (my hometown) data center campus, this post focuses strictly on verifiable technical specifications and empirical data as I understand it. The goal is to provide an objective, fact-based overview of the project's engineering parameters, NVIDIA's recent high-temperature liquid cooling design, local climate limits, and broader infrastructure trade-offs. Read my earlier post on the topic here.
I grew up at 342 Holyoke Road in Westfield, Massachusetts. In 2021, the City Council approved a $4 billion data center campus at 199 Servistar Industrial Way, 1.8 miles from that house. The vote passed 9 to 3. The site sits partly on wetlands and directly over the Barnes Aquifer, the region's municipal drinking water source. In July 2026, the council voted unanimously for a one year moratorium on new data centers, and the campus would draw 274 megawatts. Servistar says it plans a closed-loop cooling system. The reporting I reviewed does not name the cooling vendor or design.
In June 2026, NVIDIA published a cooling design that addresses the same question. It appears in the DSX reference design, a guide for building the full AI factory infrastructure stack. NVIDIA's Ali Heydari says the design has zero water consumption and has eliminated most power use for cooling. NVIDIA's own description of the Vera Rubin NVL72 system calls it single-phase direct liquid cooling with a 113°F supply temperature.
Earlier liquid-cooled deployments supplied water in the 80°F to 90°F range. Those systems cooled the CPUs and GPUs with cold plates and left other components to air. Rubin cools every chip and networking component by liquid, eliminating fans inside the server chassis and compute racks. The coolant is a 75 percent water and 25 percent propylene glycol mix that enters the chip at 113°F and leaves near 131°F. Operators have traditionally recommended an ambient temperature of 64°F to 81°F. NVIDIA's summary also lists a 6U system now fitting in 2U and no hot or cold aisle management.
Inside the building, a Cooling Distribution Unit (CDU) uses a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger to isolate the secondary coolant loop in the server racks from the primary facility loop. The primary loop then carries heat outside to dry coolers. NVIDIA says they reject heat efficiently for much of the year and that the loop avoids evaporative cooling 99 percent of the time. In favorable climates, NVIDIA says this cuts water use from roughly 2.6 million gallons per megawatt per year to near zero. Hotter climates such as Phoenix may still need chillers on peak summer days. The captured heat can also be reused to warm nearby buildings.
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| Heat path from chip to outdoor air. Coolant temperatures are NVIDIA figures. |
Westfield's climate aligns with the thermal operating requirements for those dry coolers. The average July high is 83°F, and the average January high is 34°F. Barnes Municipal Airport recorded a high of 98.1°F in July 2026. Because fluid leaves the chips near 131°F and typical heat exchangers require a 5°F to 9°F approach margin, outdoor air only needs to remain below about 104°F to supply 113°F coolant back to the racks. As a result, dry coolers in Westfield can maintain a 113°F supply temperature year-round without requiring supplemental mechanical chillers. Nearby Springfield has gained 11 more above-average summer days since 1970, but local peaks remain within the system's thermal operating limit. A campus drawing 274 megawatts releases close to that much heat, and dry coolers send it to outdoor air.
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| Westfield outdoor temperatures compared with coolant temperatures. The 104°F limit is an estimate. |
NVIDIA estimates that a 50MW facility saves over $4 million a year in cooling energy and water. Cooling has accounted for up to 40 percent of a data center's electricity. One reviewer notes the capital cost premium over air cooling remains unknown.
Environmental and energy analyses point out that on-site claims exclude water consumed by off-site power plants supplying the grid. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that 92.5 percent of a data center's water footprint comes from generating its electricity. Dry coolers can also demand 10 to 35 percent more electricity than evaporative towers. Servistar's plans include natural gas generators, and Westfield Gas & Electric estimates a gas pipeline at about $20 million.
State certification standards will require the developer to disclose cooling method, power source, and noise mitigation before construction proceeds.
Every source is linked above for you to read and weigh.
