Energy, water use and pollution of AI and data centers rival most countries

Article excerpt

Data centers powering artificial intelligence are consuming energy at a scale rivaling entire nations. If data centers formed their own country, they'd rank sixth globally in power consumption by 2030, ahead of Germany, Canada, and Japan. The environmental toll extends beyond electricity: these facilities guzzle enormous quantities of water for cooling and release pollutants that contaminate groundwater. As AI systems grow more sophisticated and widespread, their infrastructure demands are accelerating faster than efficiency improvements can offset.