The AI growth is fueling the demand for information facilities and, in flip, driving up water consumption. (Water is used to chill the computing gear inside information facilities.) According to the FT, in Virginia — dwelling to the world’s largest focus of information facilities — water utilization jumped by virtually two-thirds between 2019 and 2023, from 1.13 billion gallons to 1.85 billion gallons.
Many say the pattern, enjoying out worldwide, is unsustainable. Microsoft, a serious information heart operator, says 42% of the water it consumed in 2023 got here from “areas with water stress.” Google, which has among the many largest information heart footprints, mentioned this 12 months that 15% of its freshwater withdrawals got here from areas with “excessive water shortage.”
Why can’t information facilities recycle water in a closed-loop system? Many do, however a lot of what they eat is put aside for humidity management, which means it evaporates. Particularly in drier areas, air that’s not humidified can turn out to be a powerful conductor of static electrical energy, which is often unhealthy information for computer systems.
