Data centre water and power demand: Pacific Institute analysis and new approaches to cooling
According to the Pacific Institute, the growth of AI and cloud services is driving unprecedented data centre expansion, making water use an increasingly important issue. A Portfolio article says siting data centres undersea or underground could be one way to curb power and water consumption.
Who is affected and how
- energy specialist
- Cooling water demand is a main question in the permitting process, and choosing the cooling solution is also a matter of capacity.
- engineer
- Water- and energy-efficient cooling solutions, such as alternative siting, should be compared in the design phase.
Sources
- How Much Water Do Data Centers Use? And Why Does It Matter? - Pacific Institutepacinst.org · Sep 1, 2026
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says 38,000 ChatGPT queries use as much water as the production of one almond — says data centers use no more water than an office building | Tom's Hardwaretomshardware.com · Sep 3, 2026
- Sam Altman Says One Almond Uses As Much Water As 38,000 ChatGPT Queries At Data Centres | Times Nowtimesnownews.com · Sep 3, 2026
- OpenAI Is Building a Humanoid Robot. Sam Altman Says You Should Have One.gadget review · Sep 4, 2026
- OpenAI Is Building a Humanoid Robot, Sam Altman Confirmsceo magazyn · Sep 4, 2026
- OpenAI Is Building a Humanoid Robot. Sam Altman Says You Should Have One. - Gadget Reviewgadgetreview.com · Sep 4, 2026
- Data centres into the sea or underground? This is how their electricity and water consumption would be curbed - Portfolio.huportfolio.hu · Sep 5, 2026 · magyar
Machine-generated summary based on the titles and excerpts of the source articles. The facts come from the linked article.