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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.

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.

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.