Data centers are notoriously thirsty. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that in 2023, facilities consumed approximately 17 billion gallons of water for their operations in the United States alone. But that’s only a small part of the picture: a much larger share of data center water consumption is indirect, a byproduct of the facilities’ enormous energy appetite. Indeed, most power plants themselves require enormous amounts of water to operate. This indirect off-site water consumption totaled 211 billion gallons in Berkeley Lab’s 2023 count, well over 10 times direct on-site use. As Silicon Valley continues to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and demand for data centers increases, these water needs will only increase in tandem.
However, new research from Cornell University shows there is a way to mitigate both climate And Water footprint of these facilities: Build them in places with lots of wind and solar power. “Location really matters,” said Fengqi You, professor of energy systems engineering at Cornell and co-author of the new study. Where companies choose to locate their data centers could change their combined environmental footprint by a factor of up to 100.
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During operations, data centers use water as a coolant. Power-hungry servers generate significant heat, and water is circulated through cooling systems to prevent equipment from overheating and failing. But significant quantities of water are also used indirectly via the production of electricity to operate the installations. Thermoelectric power plants, whether using coal, gas, or nuclear materials, use this fuel to generate heat that converts water into steam, which is then used to turn a turbine and produce electricity. And because hydroelectric plants typically store large volumes of water in reservoirs behind dams, there are also water losses, as water continually evaporates from the surface of the reservoirs.
In total, water consumption during electricity generation can be responsible for more than 70% of a data center’s total water consumption, according to the new Cornell study. “That’s why the power grid mix is very critical,” You said.
You and his co-authors examined the energy and water consumption of data centers across the country to determine where future investments should be made to reduce environmental impacts. The study speculates that the data center boom, fueled by staggering levels of investment in artificial intelligence, is unlikely to slow down anytime soon. In this context, the question posed by the study is: where is the most environmentally sustainable place in the country to build a data center?
The researchers looked at both direct and indirect energy and water uses resulting from building a data center in a specific location. The most promising region they identified could turn heads: very arid West Texas. But because the region is sparsely populated, has groundwater that can be used as a coolant, and produces enough wind power, it scored highest in energy and water stress. In fact, the grid-related water footprint in West Texas is among the lowest in the country, thanks to the large amount of wind power produced, the study found.
“From an energy and water efficiency perspective, states that have sufficient dry renewable energy are going to be the best choice,” You said, adding that Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota all appear to be prime locations for future AI servers, alongside the Lone Star State.
Conversely, most areas of the Pacific Northwest have not performed as well due to their reliance on hydropower. Although the cost of electricity is low in the region, the loss of water associated with electricity generation means that building more data centers will likely have a much larger water footprint than in other parts of the country.
Another recent study by researchers at Purdue University came to a similar conclusion. They looked at water availability across the country and determined how it might change over time, particularly as climate change makes some regions hotter and drier. The researchers also looked at the water impact of existing Google data centers and found that the majority of them were located in areas with low water stress.
“Companies absolutely consider the environment in their decisions, not just the economic factor,” said Yi Ding, one of the paper’s authors and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. “We infer that Google has already somewhat accounted for water stress because it has placed most data centers in low-stress regions.”
Texas already has more than 400 data centers located in the state, second only to Virginia. The state’s grid infrastructure, renewable energy potential and availability of cheap land have made it an attractive proposition for technology companies. But the other states identified by the Cornell study as having a small environmental footprint — Nebraska, South Dakota and Montana — have only about 70 data centers combined, out of more than at least 4,200 nationally. Indeed, a number of other factors, such as the political environment and infrastructure considerations, deter companies from building new facilities there. But if those states geared their policies toward attracting data centers, it could make a difference, You said.
