The AI boom is driving up water consumption in data centers. Data centers use water to cool their computing equipment. According to FT, in Virginia, where the world’s largest concentration of data centers is located, water usage increased by almost two-thirds between 2019 and 2023, from 1.13 billion gallons to 1.85 billion gallons.
Many people believe that this global trend is not sustainable. Microsoft, a major data center operator, reported that 42% of the water it used in 2023 came from areas experiencing water stress. Google, with one of the largest data center footprints, stated that 15% of its freshwater withdrawals were from areas with high water scarcity.
Why don’t data centers reuse water in a closed-loop system? Some do, but a significant amount of water is used for humidity control, which means it evaporates. In dry regions, air that is not humidified can conduct static electricity, which is harmful to computers.
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