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Water Energy Planning Strategies to meet Emerging Load from Data Centers

This white paper discusses the urgent need for innovative management of energy and water resources in the context of rapidly growing data centers, particularly as U.S. electricity demand is projected to increase by 35 to 40% by 2040 due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)....

Bhowmik, P., Cafferty, K., Klise, K., and Jackson, N.

Unlocking Nuclear-Enabled Water Resilience: Leveraging Idaho National Laboratory Facilities and Expertise to Strengthen Integration Across Energy and Critical Water Systems

This white paper outlines strategies to enhance energy-water resilience and facilitate a resurgence of nuclear power by addressing barriers to water access for cooling. It emphasizes the development and demonstration of technologies and operational models that improve the accessib...

Jenson, W., Mosier, T., and Atkinson, T.

Water Reuse Energy Demands and Water Quality Metrics

This white paper discusses strategies for enhancing water resilience in energy production by advancing water reuse and reclamation technologies, particularly for thermoelectric power plants and data centers. The focus is on efficiently closing the water loop by processing discharg...

Shurtliff, M., and Reese, S.

Aligning Bytes with Basins to Promote Data Center Growth in the U.S.

This white paper examines the water-energy tradeoffs of U.S. data-center expansion, highlighting how cooling choices, power sourcing, and siting decisions shape local water security, grid resilience, and watershed sustainability. The study focuses on integrating direct (on-site po...

Siddik, M., Turner, S., and Chinthavali, S.

Enabling Energy-Water Resilience in U.S. Data Centers: Water-Aware Grid Planning and Operations with Infrastructure-Compatible Cooling

Rapid, concentrated expansion of AI data centers is reshaping electricity demand profiles, local infrastructure requirements, and regional resource constraints. These facilities are often sized from tens to hundreds of megawatts with multi-gigawatt campus clusters. They are relati...

Zhou, Z., Wu, M., Qiu, F., Muehleisen, R., Zhao, D., Yan, E., and Worek, W.

Regional Energy and Water Resilience Strategies for Critical Thermoelectric Power Generation and Data Center Technologies

This white paper discusses strategies for improving water management in thermoelectric power plants and data centers by focusing on the reclamation and management of cooling water. The primary goal is to efficiently close the water cycle by processing discharged cooling water to r...

Rigby, A., and Wilson, A.

Water Availability for Cooling Systems: Assessing Demands, Constraints, and Alternative Sources for Thermoelectric Plants and Data Centers

This white paper focuses on enhancing the intersection of energy and water resilience by advancing water reuse and reclamation technologies, particularly for thermoelectric power plants and data centers. The primary goal is to efficiently manage cooling water to meet growing deman...

Pacheco, C., Cafferty, K., Reese, S., Atkinson, T., Mosier, T., and Tidwell, V.

Co-optimization of Energy and Water Demands to Enable Rapid but Resilient Expansion of Data Centers

Data centers consume substantial amounts of electricity and can amplify water stress locally as well as in distant regions via their direct (for cooling) and indirect (for thermoelectric power generation) consumption of water. There is an opportunity to enhance energy-water resili...

Burleyson, C., Akdemir, K., Mongird, K., and Wild, T.