Europe's Datacenter Expansion Risks Water and Power Shortages
TL;DR. A new report warns Europe's datacenter boom, crucial for AI and cloud computing, faces severe water and energy constraints by 2030. - Datacenters could consume up to 9% of Europe's electricity and vast amounts of water by 2030. - Current infrastructure development may not support the projected 35 GW IT load without strategic changes. - The report from Grundfos advocates for policy integration of water and energy efficiency in datacenter planning.
- Europe's datacenter IT load is projected to rise from 10 GW to 35 GW by 2030.
- Datacenters currently account for 3% of EU electricity consumption, expected to reach 7-9% by 2030.
- Cooling systems represent 38% of datacenter electricity use and demand significant water volumes.
- The report urges a policy framework integrating water and energy efficiency to sustain growth.
Sources
- Europe told to cool its datacenter boom before water and power run short — theregister.com