|
Top headlines
Lead story
Data centers – the massive buildings filled with computers that store the apps and data that run much of the modern internet – pack together lots of heat-generating computer equipment. Keeping all that machinery cool uses a lot of water. But exactly how much is hard to figure out.
Water policy scholars Peyton McCauley and Melissa Scanlan set out to find out what they could. One estimate for 2023 has U.S. data centers using 17 billion gallons (64 billion liters) of water just for cooling – enough to supply New York City’s population with drinking water for 17 days. And that may be an underestimate.
The most detailed data they could find was in large tech companies’ voluntary sustainability reports. But some companies’ reports don’t reveal data center water use at all, or they leave out important information. Even the most detailed reports lacked key context.
Nevertheless, the picture that emerges from what they could gather is of an industry that uses more and more water every year, with no sign of slowing down. As more and more companies propose more data centers, McCauley and Scanlan explain, the public will want to find ways to determine how much water they’re using.
[ Sign up for our weekly Global Economy & Business newsletter, with interesting perspectives from experts around the world. ]
|
The Columbia River running through The Dalles, Oregon, supplies water to cool data centers.
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
Peyton McCauley, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Melissa Scanlan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
In 2024, one data center in Iowa consumed 1 billion gallons of water, enough to supply all the state’s residences with water for five days.
|
Ethics + Religion
|
-
Perin Gürel, University of Notre Dame
The folktale, ‘The Bird Indifferent to Pain,’ offers insight into why audiences are drawn to the relentless jester – a comedic trope that has endured across cultures.
|
|
International
|
-
Ronald Suny, University of Michigan
For all the talk of security guarantees for Ukraine, the peace being looked at by the US president looks to be aligned with that desired by his Russian counterpart.
-
Mollie J. Cohen, Purdue University
For the first time since returning to democracy, Bolivia’s presidential election heads to a runoff. But no left-wing candidate made it past the first round.
-
Abay Yimere, Tufts University
Africa’s Second Climate Summit in Ethiopia will try to find ways to bring in more finance to help the continent adapt to climate change.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Ivis García, Texas A&M University; Deidra Davis, Texas A&M University; Walter Gillis Peacock, Texas A&M University
Looking back on New Orleans 20 years after Hurricane Katrina is a reminder that while such hazards may be natural, the death and destruction is largely human-made.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Deryn Davidson, Colorado State University
Chaos gardening is touted on social media as an easy, no-effort way to create a beautiful garden. A landscape specialist explains what to be aware of before chaotically tossing seeds around.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Chris Lamb, Indiana University
The Civil Rights Movement is often told in terms of court decisions, brutal beatings and racist demagogues. It’s rarely told from the view of children, who suffered in ways that left emotional scars.
|
|
Economy + Business
|
-
Fred L. Pincus, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
There’s no evidence of widespread, systematic discrimination against white Americans. Just ask them.
-
Annika Abell, University of Tennessee
Consumers perceive some misspellings positively, but only if the unconventional spelling is relevant and not too extreme, according to a new study.
|
|
