Google’s annual report on the environment, released Monday, showed that while it continued to meet goals in terms of renewable energy usage, there was still a way to go for Google to fulfill its promise to give communities back more water than what they are taking from them to cool data centers and provide its offices.
According to the 104 page report, for the sixth year running, the company has matched its global electricity usage with 100% renewable energy purchases.
“We are now working to address the issue that renewable energy is not available all the time and everywhere by aiming to run on carbon-free energy 24/7 and to achieve net-zero emissions across all of our operations and value chain by 2030,” Learning & Sustainability Senior Vice President Ben Gomes and Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt wrote in a Google blog.
The report also noted that through the company’s contracted watershed projects, it had replenished 271 million gallons of water — equivalent to more than 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools — to support its target to replenish 120% of the freshwater it uses in its global operations by 2030.
Google will still have to make a big effort to achieve this goal since 271 millions gallons represents only 6% freshwater consumption for the company in 2022.
Thirsty Data Centers
Google spends the vast majority of water on cooling its global network of servers. According to the report, water cooling offers Google two advantages. The report explained that water-cooled data centres use 10% less energy than air-cooled ones and emit 10% less carbon dioxide.
In 2022, Google reported, the total water consumption by its data centers and offices was 5.6 billion gallons — the equivalent of what it takes to irrigate 37 golf courses annually, on average, in the southwestern United States. Google made it clear that, whenever possible, they try to use alternatives to freshwater or non-potable freshwater sources.
In addition, it explained that it also evaluates and takes into account local water stress when deciding where to locate its facilities, how to design them, and how to operate them — from water systems in its offices to cooling systems in its data centers.
It added, “That’s the reason, in 2022 82% of freshwater withdrawals will come from regions with low-water stress.”
Amazon Web Services takes into account the level of water stress when it comes to locating its data centres. Will Hewes explained, “In some places we might consider the community to decide that it is not right to use water to chill our data centres.”
There are other options. He told TechNewsWorld that they just require more energy.
Alternatives for Cooling
Wes Swenson is a founding investor and CEO of Novva Data Centers Data centers can be a major source of water shortages in communities where water is scarce.
Scarcity is not the only concern. TechNewsWorld reported that “if the data center uses an air-side economizer and ambient air from outside enters the data center, water will be treated for hard water or minerals, and bacteria as employees are likely to inhale it.”
He continued: “Water that does not evaporate is flushed through the city’s sewer system where it is either retreated or diverted to irrigation purposes.” It takes a lot of energy to clean and reclean the water.
“If the water used to run the fluid side economizers is treated against hard water minerals so that outside air is not allowed into the data center, it can be consumed.” The water that is not lost through evaporation will be flushed back into the wastewater system of the city, increasing the pressure on the wastewater plants.
Adam Simmons, an expert in content for the website, pointed out that data centers can use air cooling instead of water to cool. Data Center Knowledge The Data Center Industry Online Source of Information
He told TechNewsWorld that air was a less effective cooling system than water. “Air does not work in hot climates, so it will not work as effectively in Arizona or Texas as in Canada and Northern Europe.”
There are also liquid immersion cooling “You can also submerge your equipment in a non-conducting fluid,” he said. “That too has its challenges. It’s newer. “It’s newer, more expensive and has maintenance problems because you can’t upgrade it while it’s underwater.”
AI Impact on Data Center Water Use
Simmons noted that waterless systems have existed for many years. He said that the argument against water-free systems is that they require more energy than traditional systems. This is a myth.
He also said that data center clients could be smarter in their cooling decisions. “Raising temperatures, such as moving the thermostat up from 70 to 80 degree, would be helpful.”
The demand for artificial intelligence will increase the thirst of data centers. Rob Enderle stated that AI will significantly increase the water demand by data centers. Enderle Group A firm that provides advisory services in Bend, Ore.
“AI requires a lot processing power.” “Processing power produces heat, and requires additional cooling,”
Swenson said that AI models could impact water levels unless data centers changed their methods. He predicted that “AI and inferred compute load with a multiplyer effect will cause data centers to build 10 times the current levels and possibly up to 25 times over just five years.”
Offsetting Demand Through Efficiency
Hewes acknowledged the possibility of a growth in water use over time, which could be attributed to AI. “But AWS continues to invest in the water efficiency, so that we can minimize any water growth,” he said.
He said that AWS data centers will use about 0.25 liters per kilowatt. In 2022, the water consumption per kilowatt was reduced to 0.19.
“Our aim is to have a net-positive impact, even with the water growth,” he said.
John DeVoe is a senior fundraiser, advisor and consultant of WaterWatch of Oregon The organization, which monitors water quality in Portland, Ore.
What do they mean when they say replenish? He asked.
He told that Amazon had a program where it put water used for cooling into irrigation canals, and called this mitigation. “But that does nothing for the sources of that water — a river, stream, or aquifer.”
“There’s not water flowing back to these sources,” he said, “and if it did it would kill the local fish.”
