Artificial Intelligence: Growing Environmental Footprint and Data Center Water Crisis

 The swift growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technology presents great chances to address climate change, but its environmental impact has become a new policy concern.

Massive AI data centers are consuming energy and water at a rate that threatens local water supplies and global carbon emissions targets.

A recent UNEP and EESI report reveals that AI servers and data centers are consuming energy and water at an unprecedented rate.

A hyperscale data center for AI training can consume up to 5 million gallons of water daily, equivalent to the needs of a small city.

This water is primarily used for cooling servers, with around 80% evaporating and depleting local water resources. The presence of these data centers in water-stressed regions is causing social and environmental conflicts.

Training and operating AI models requires a lot of energy, often from fossil fuels, which can significantly raise carbon emissions.

lobal data center electricity use is expected to exceed 1,000 TWh (terawatt-hours) by 2027. Leading technology companies such as Google and Microsoft have acknowledged a significant increase in their data center water use.

Policy experts warn that there is a significant policy gap to address this problem. While governments have formulated national AI strategies, they are not giving sufficient attention to environmental sustainability and water resource planning.

It’s essential to utilize AI effectively by creating standard metrics to assess its environmental impact, requiring data centers to use renewable energy, and focusing on efficiency measures like ‘Water Use Effectiveness (WUE).’

This proves that the rapid development of technology, if not accompanied by environmental protection policies, can create new crises.