In its latest environmental report, Google has seen a significant increase in water consumption, which appears to be due to the increased use of artificial intelligence. According to the data reported in the report, the company’s water consumption grew by 20%, mainly due to the cooling its many data centers.
Google, water consumption increases due to AI
As Lorenzo Tirotta points out on Hardware Upgrade, last year Google consumed a total of 22 billion liters of water. An enormous number, due to the construction of new data centers for artificial intelligence, with large water consumption.
Currently, Google it replenishes only 6% of the fresh water back into the system which it consumes in its offices and data centers. But he said he has ambitious plans to address this challenge by 2030. The company’s goal is to replenish 120% of the fresh water useddemonstrating a concrete commitment to water sustainability.
One of the critical aspects that emerged from the report is that much of the water used by Google to cool its data centers is considered clean enough to be drinkable. Google is already taking concrete actions to improve the situation and reduce its environmental impact. Specifically, the company is looking into the adoption of alternative cooling methods, such as air cooling.
The challenge of water stress it is especially important, as some regions of the world are already experiencing severe water scarcity problems. Reducing the water consumption of data centers would allow for a better allocation of resources, reducing the environmental impact.