Per the article, all current European data centers used 62 million cubic meters of water for 2024. That is 3.4% of only Spain's existing desalination capacity (≈1.8 billion m³/yr).
Seems like this is solvable:
1. Keep rolling out the closed-loop cooling improvements now appearing in new DC designs.
2. Add more desal capacity where it’s cheap (sunny coastlines + renewables) to cover the residual demand.
Comments
Per the article, all current European data centers used 62 million cubic meters of water for 2024. That is 3.4% of only Spain's existing desalination capacity (≈1.8 billion m³/yr).
Seems like this is solvable:
1. Keep rolling out the closed-loop cooling improvements now appearing in new DC designs.
2. Add more desal capacity where it’s cheap (sunny coastlines + renewables) to cover the residual demand.
Sources: - https://aedyr.com/plantas-desaladoras-agua-salobre-espana/
If the data centre is coastal then desalination might be an extra step. A salt water heat exchanger might do the job.