- 517 of 809 planned US data centers currently located in locations affected by a drought in the last year
- US regulators note direct data center cooling needs, but may overlook power generation and manufacturing costs
- The issue is quickly becoming political for many Americans, 70% of whom do not want to live next to a data center
The US may be in the grip of a record drought, but AI data center builders and their advocates seem undeterred right now.
This despite local frustrations over the detrimental impact of AI data centers on living conditions, which are becoming increasingly vocal.
The unprecedented situation affects both electricity production and water supply, but is experiencing a somewhat muted reaction from political stakeholders in various regions
AI’s water needs far exceed the closed circuit
The AI industry maintains that closed loops are highly efficient for both cooling and water consumption, and data center operators like AWS are implementing their own custom loops to take advantage of the situation, but that may just be the tip of the iceberg here.
The elephant in the room for most data centers is power: all current builds will require reliable power to support the computing they are expected to house in the near future.
This is particularly challenging at a time when the US grid is already expected to be strained, even as it passes increased power costs on to consumers over the next few years.
In a report published by Xlyem, estimates indicated that out of the increase in AI-centric water demand, only 4% is directly attributable to the data center, while a whopping 96% is indirect (power generation at ~54% and semiconductor manufacturing at ~42%), with much of the focus on the former versus the latter.
At a time when U.S. data center construction continues where possible, even as some insurers raise concerns, a drought seems to be a fairly secondary concern for companies on a warpath against Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
This has led some regions of the US to take a proactive approach, with Seattle effectively banning new data center projects for an entire year as the city struggles with higher electricity costs and a relative lack of tangible benefits for residents.
Water and power are shaping up to be AI’s biggest challenges over the next decade, even as businesses continue to demand more data processing, but others are less enthusiastic about the whole issue, pointing out that there are other concerns at play with rural, conservative populations, a key voter demographic for the current US administration, most affected by rising water and power costs even as access increases.
Andrew Coppin, CEO of Ranchbot, a tool that enables farmers to monitor their water use, summed up the situation and spoke to The Guardian:
“The concerns of the farmers are real and valid. Data centers are the flavor of the month now, but we wouldn’t make the choice to only be able to shower on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. I think ChatGPT is a pretty good tool, but most people would prefer to have a beefsteak if they had to choose.”
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