Rainwater could help meet AI’s water needs

Rainwater could help meet AI’s water needs

Written by Justin Talbot Zorn & Bettina Varberg

In late September, Microsoft announced that it had reached an agreement to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to power its growing network of data centers. The rebuilding of the plant, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, is part of several extraordinary steps tech companies are aggressively taking to meet growing energy demands driven by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies. There is one. Industry analysts at Transforma Insights predict that the number of IoT devices worldwide will reach nearly 30 billion by 2030, up from less than 10 billion in 2020.

Yet while big tech companies tout nuclear power and other low-carbon energy plans, they offer surprisingly few ideas for addressing the rapidly increasing use of another scarce resource: water.

Data centers require large amounts of water for liquid cooling systems that absorb and dissipate heat generated by servers. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside found that between 5 and 50 ChatGPT requests can consume up to 500 milliliters of water (approximately the amount of a 16-ounce bottle). Those swallows add up. Google used 20% more water in 2022 compared to 2021 as it ramped up AI development. Microsoft’s water usage increased by 34% over the same period. By 2027, it is predicted that AI will use as much water per year globally as a small European country. To make matters worse, many data centers are located in water-scarce areas. Recently, a Google-owned data center in The Dalles, Oregon, consumed a third of the city’s water supply during drought conditions.

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While some tech companies are investing in water recycling, others are envisioning long-term innovations such as transporting seawater inland or even moving data centers underwater. There is. Many people simply ignore what their water use ultimately costs, not to mention the fear of drought. So far, only a few technology companies have taken steps to apply what appears to be the simplest, most proven, and most promising strategy for mitigating water risks: catching rainwater from the sky. Only company.

People have been collecting rainwater since time immemorial. Currently, there is growing interest among water conservationists to collect rain from roofs and channel it through gutters into tanks. This water will then be pumped through the cooling system in the data center. Recent studies have shown that harvesting even a small portion of the rain that falls in a particular region can help alleviate water scarcity, while simultaneously recharging groundwater and reducing pollution from stormwater runoff. If you collect water from your roof, you don’t need a utility intermediary. This means harvesting rainwater is cheaper than purchasing equivalent quantities from municipal supplies and avoids the greenhouse gas emissions associated with pumping water between sites.

Some states and local governments have long restricted rainwater harvesting for residential and industrial use due to concerns about water quality and diminishing water supplies. But recently, state after state has approved the practice as evidence of its increased conservation benefits. Cities like Tucson and Austin are currently encouraging rainwater harvesting by offering incentives and establishing requirements. Apple, Ford, and Toyota have recently integrated rainwater collection systems into their corporate campuses and manufacturing facilities.

However, we believe data centers represent the greatest untapped opportunity for water savings through rainwater harvesting. Not only does the data center have a dire need for water, but its large, flat roof makes it ideal for harvesting water. A 50,000 square foot roof can collect approximately 31,000 gallons of water from one inch of rain. This is about the same amount as filling an average residential pool. Many data centers have roofs of more than 100,000 square feet, and some hyperscale data centers owned by major technology companies have roofs of up to 1 million square feet.

Why aren’t more data centers relying on rainwater harvesting? First, the cost. Setting up a system for a commercial facility like a data center typically costs between $2 and $5 per square foot, depending on system complexity, storage, and filtering needs. If the cost of municipal water in your area is low, it may not make sense to invest in rainwater harvesting. Additionally, rainwater systems rarely cover the total amount of water needed to cool a data center. Some large facilities consume up to 1 million gallons of water each day.

But as both the cost and uncertainty of water resources increase, especially as the climate changes, the economics of rainwater harvesting make more and more sense. Like installing solar panels, installing a rainwater collection system is a one-time investment that can reduce your energy bills in the long run. In some cases, companies can leverage their existing stormwater management budget for rainwater harvesting. In places like the Dallas metropolitan area, where many data centers in the country are located, average rainfall means that rainwater harvesting systems can cover up to one-third of a data center’s cooling needs, depending on size and storage system. It means that there is a gender. This number is lower in arid regions, but the cost of water is typically higher in these regions, making the economics of rainwater harvesting more attractive. As the public becomes more concerned about the environmental impact of AI and other technologies, companies will need to consider both the financial and reputational risks of water inaction.

Some industry leaders are beginning to realize the potential. Google data centers in South Carolina use rainwater retention ponds to collect rainwater. Microsoft data centers introduced rainwater harvesting in Sweden, reducing dependence on local water sources. Amazon Web Services emphasizes the potential of rainwater harvesting in water positive strategies.

At the policy level, Green Banks, the clean energy-focused financial institutions that are expanding across the country with $27 billion in federal funding from the Inflation Control Act, could soon begin helping finance stormwater projects. Rainwater could win bipartisan support and even tax credits in line with recent renewable energy bills. This approach could be a popular cause among Democrats because of climate resiliency, but Republicans could do so without having to accept the science of climate change or oppose the fossil fuel lobby. We can support the use of rainwater.

At a time when Silicon Valley is turning to energy solutions like long-dormant nuclear power plants, it may seem strange to use technology as old as civilization itself to tackle pressing global challenges. . But sometimes the best solutions fall from the sky.

This is an opinion and analysis article and the views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the author. scientific american.