The world depends on the internet and high-speed connections. These systems require intensive infrastructures and facilities to keep them working smoothly. Unfortunately, these large-scale data centers are detrimental to the environment and public health.
Data centers use huge amounts of water to cool their servers. On average, they can use 3 to 5 million gallons of water per day. This is equivalent to what a city of 30,000 to 50,000 people would use. The cooling towers used by data centers are also major sources of pneumonia-causing bacteria.
Water consumption is only one part of the problem. Data centers can be detrimental to public health and might not offer much economic value to the regions they’re built in. Let’s take a look at the negative impacts of data centers and what’s being done to address them.
How Much Water Do Data Centers Use?
Data centers are incredibly large infrastructures that can range in size from 100,000 square feet to well over 3.5 million square feet. These facilities require large amounts of electricity, and they accounted for about 1% to 2% of the global electricity demand in 2020.
In turn, the large amounts of processing power create heat, so data centers need to keep cool to prevent damage to their systems.
One of the ways data centers keep their facilities cool is through the use of water cooling. The average data center can use around 3 to 5 million gallons of water per day. To put this into perspective, that much water is equivalent to what a city of 30,000 to 50,000 people would use.
What is the Water Used For?
Some data centers use the air from nearby mountains to cool off, while other facilities have experimented by building underwater locations. Still, most data centers rely on water cooling to keep their electrical components from breaking down.
The water is used in the process of spraying cool air across the servers. Evaporation then transfers heat away from the components.
Most data centers use water for direct cooling. However, the most significant source of water use is electricity generation. Water is heated to create steam, which turns a turbine and generates electricity. This technology isn’t new, as fossil fuels, nuclear power, and even hydroelectric power all involve some form of water consumption.
What Are Cooling Towers and Why Should We Get Rid of Them?
Cooling towers are used to keep data center servers operational by controlling their temperature. That said, they can pose threats to the environment and public health. To understand why, we first need to explain the two ways you can cool liquid.
The first method for cooling liquid is known as dry cooling. It follows the same principles as a car radiator. Dry cooling uses a closed circuit with an exchanger that allows air to pass through. There are two individual circuits. One of the circuits cools the air, and one cools the water.
The two circuits never make direct contact, but they both pass through the same exchanger. Because they don’t make contact, there isn’t any water consumed by the device.
The second method for cooling liquid is known as a cooling tower. The cooling tower sprays water from the top, paired with airflow traveling in the opposite direction. The water partially evaporates, drops the temperature, and exchanges its heat with the air. Cooling towers are less expensive but use more water.
Legionnaires’ Disease
Cooling towers use more water than dry cooling. An issue that’s often overlooked is that the hot water and air that make direct contact breed harmful bacteria.
The Pasteur Institute, a French non-profit scientific research organization, estimates that anywhere between 8,000 and 18,000 people are infected by Legionella bacteria every year.
Legionella is recognized as one of the top five bacteria to cause community-acquired pneumonia. It leads to Legionnaires’ disease, which is a type of pneumonia that spreads through the mist produced by water systems like the air-conditioning units used for large buildings.
Cooling towers are one of the main culprits behind the spread of Legionella. In fact, The Center for Disease Control has identified cooling towers as one of the primary sources of Legionnaires’ disease.
Most data centers utilize chlorine or bromine-based chemicals to account for the bacteria. But these chemicals can be highly toxic to organic matter, especially on the human brain, and thus can lead to harmful symptoms.
Should We Get Rid of Cooling Towers?
Data center cooling towers are a touchy subject. Even then, cooling towers pose public health and environmental risks that can’t be ignored. On the other hand, society values the internet, high-speed connections, and large amounts of data.
The use of cooling towers is nearly banned in France, but they’re still used in some European countries and the United States. Some argue that it’s best to enact global regulations before there are irreversible consequences.
How Much Electricity Do Data Centers Consume?
As mentioned above, these facilities represented 1% to 2% of the global electricity demand in 2020. Even small data centers can use the same amount of electricity that could 1,000 houses.
These large amounts of processing power create heat, so data centers need to keep cool to prevent damage. Keeping cool takes even more energy, and up to 43% of data center electricity in the United States is dedicated to cooling.
What Locals Are Saying
The data center industry is booming and shows no signs of slowing down. Certain areas like Arizona, which have large amounts of solar and wind energy available, are attractive for people interested in building large data centers. As you might expect, local communities often aren’t happy about the surge in data center development in their neighborhoods.
Local Concerns
The issues with water use in data centers have been on the rise in recent years. Communities across the United States have pushed back against large tech companies like Google and Amazon. For example, water conservation groups in South Carolina scrutinized Google’s request for 1.5 million gallons of water per day in 2017.
Google was already using 4 million gallons of tap water every day, and local residents didn’t want them to use any more. The company eventually reached an agreement with the community after a two-year battle, but things still aren’t perfect.
Water conservation experts have analyzed certain data centers’ water use. The research shows that even in terrible conditions, water use would still be sustainable. Nevertheless, water can’t be undervalued and is a finite resource.
Jobs or Water?
Another struggle local communities and water conservation experts face is making the choice between economic advancements and conservation. Many cities have brought in billion-dollar data centers that promise jobs, investments, and economic progress, all at the cost of the region’s water supply.
These locations don’t want to turn down billion-dollar tech companies, so officials sometimes turn a blind eye. Local government officials want to maintain the appearance that their communities are a great place to develop and invest. But this often causes a rift between citizens and industry.
This happened in Mesa, Arizona. A large data center was approved by the local government, but officials didn’t release any details about the project due to a nondisclosure agreement. The data center can use anywhere from 1 to 5 million gallons of water per day, but only supply the area with 150 jobs across three buildings.
There are over 500,000 people in Mesa, and 150 more jobs represent a mere 0.03% increase. But the facility will pay the region millions of dollars in sales tax from construction and utilities.
Limiting Resources
Some cities and regions have had to limit the resources they can hand over to billion-dollar tech data centers. For example, the city of Mesa has approved about eight to nine large-scale data center projects. Some of these facilities, such as a Google location, might consume upwards of 4 million gallons of water per day.
City officials required the developers to obtain water credits from the Salt River Project in the case that the city can’t meet the center’s demand for water. However, Arizona already uses water from Lake Mead, America’s largest reservoir, and it’s already decreased to its lowest levels in history.
Water levels are so low that federal restrictions might soon become a reality for Arizona’s water allocation. Six other states in the region could also face water restrictions.
Pushing Back
Thankfully, some cities are pushing back against new data center projects. For example, in 2015, the city of Chandler, Arizona, passed an ordinance that restricted the development of new water-intensive projects. These businesses now have to align with the city’s plan for economic progress in order to be approved.
This ordinance discourages facilities that use copious amounts of water but don’t create enough jobs to compensate, like data centers. Instead, the city of Chandler prefers facilities that create thousands of opportunities, like semiconductor plants.
The city’s water resource manager claims that the ordinance is the first of its kind in the United States. The ordinance was created as a result of discovering how much water one data center can use in 2013. It took months to develop the ordinance, but there hasn’t been a water-guzzling data center in the city since.
How Data Centers Are Working Towards Water Conservation
Data centers are necessary infrastructures that are gaining more attention. This has encouraged more people to ask questions about sustainability and water conservation efforts. Some data centers strive for sustainability due to economic, corporate, and customer pressure.
External pressure is expected to rise significantly from investors and customers alike. Political tensions and the need for transparency are also expected to result in increased conservation efforts.
As of now, most corporations are focusing their efforts on minimizing water withdrawals. However, water stewardship efforts are going beyond reducing and are now incorporating strategies to replenish water.
Sustainable Data Centers
On average, large-scale data centers use 1.8 L of freshwater per watt-hour of IT power consumed. It only takes 57 L of water to create 1 kilowatt hour of electricity in the United States.
However, industry leaders have announced bold plans to reduce carbon footprints, utilize renewable energy, and minimize water consumption.
Renewable energy sources have a positive impact on decarbonization. In fact, most data centers already use renewable energy in the forms of solar, wind, and geothermal power.
Data centers will offset non-renewable energy by purchasing renewable energy certificates (REC) and power purchase agreements (PPA). The companies use RECs as “credit,” and PPAs are purchased from qualified renewable resources.
Data centers are continuing to make strides in the renewable energy industry, and they might contribute toward advancements in renewable resources.
Sustainable solutions for data center cooling are a balancing act between power and water usage. Cooling strategies that don’t use water use more power and aren’t as sustainable. But as technology progresses, sustainable solutions will improve and become more efficient.
Colder Climates
Data centers often utilize cooling strategies that minimize water ruse. Some facilities in colder and moderate regions use adiabatic cooling, which occurs through changes in air pressure, to cool the servers. Adiabatic cooling can reduce energy and water use.
During colder seasons, data centers will utilize outside air to directly cool the facility. But during warmer seasons, the air is pulled through water-moistened pads.
The air is chilled and moved through the data center as the water in the pads evaporates. Warmer areas also use cooling towers and chillers, but they consume more water.
Non-Potable Water
Some data centers utilize non-potable water sources to reduce potable water use. A few large data facilities have been successful with non-potable water sources. Some people believe data centers aren’t paying enough attention to alternative water sources and site selections.
Many data facilities in northern Virginia use recycled water. In general, recycled water should be used and prioritized in regions where it’s readily available. Recycled water can help conserve potable water resources in the long run.
Water Efforts Are Shifting
Although things might look bleak, water conservation and management efforts are starting to shift. Corporate efforts are focusing on water replenishment and watershed health.
The data center industry might be a catalyst for meaningful developments in water conservation. The path forward is uncertain, but progress is being made in the right direction.