保障水安全以促进可持续的数据中心增长

Introduction The global data center sector is on a steep growth trajectory.Already, it is projected to be worth around $527 billion1,with forecasts suggesting the market could almost doubleby 2030. This expansion is being fueled by a powerful setof drivers: the rise of AI and machine learning, the rapidOne area where the necessity of collaboration is especiallypronounced is sustainability, given the pressure this rapiddata center expansion is placing on our natural resources,and the energy and land required. Among the most pressingsustainability issues for data centers is water efficiency. As ambitions, comparing these to water security levelsand the sustainability policies and legislation in place toaddress this. Nearly two-thirds (63%)3of business leadersagree that businesses should acknowledge water usageand efficient water management as key environmental digital life, supporting economic growth and poweringessential services such as healthcare, financial systems,and communications, some governments now classify datacenters as critical infrastructure2. However, unlike traditionalinfrastructure, much of the sector remains privately owned.Even where infrastructure is privatized, it tends to still be efficient water management as keyenvironmental challenges 63%associated with AI Water Security -A Global Picture world’s population lives in water-stressed regions4.Findings from our 2024 Thirst for Change partnershipwith Waterwise reinforced the urgency of the global watersecurity challenge, revealing that nearly a third (29%) of the42 countries analyzed face high to very high levels of waterinsecurity. This issue is only growing due to a combination Data centers and water Addressing these challenges requires proactive collaborationacross public and private sectors, from regulation and policy,measurement and reporting and the implementation of waterefficiency measures. Data centers are relatively ‘new’compared to more traditional infrastructure such as energy,transport and water systems. This means that they post Against this backdrop, ensuring the water efficiency ofdata centers becomes a global environmental priority. Datacenters are among the top ten water-consuming commercial indirect6, tied to electricity production and supply. However,a significant proportion of direct water consumption is due todata center cooling - which is currently a fundamental processto the successful operation of the centers7. Thousands ofnew considerations but also that we have the opportunity tointegrate sustainability and water efficiency measures intotheir design and operations almost from the outset, ratherthan facing the challenges of retroactively addressing these water-cooling systems. The former approach uses fans and airconditioning and is less effective for high-density computingenvironments. By contrast, water-based cooling is far moreefficient at removing heat8, which explains why hyperscaleoperators increasingly favor this method despite its significantAs nations compete to harness the economic potential ofthe data center sector, the balance between ambition andresponsibility will be critical. Ensuring water efficiency isnot only vital for the resilience of the sector, but also, as the AI transformation gathers pace and more data centers are How dodata centerscompare? infrastructure Countryoverviews:Data centresand water India As a country leading the charge to embrace AI, it follows thatIndia’s data center sector was granted ‘infrastructure status’26tostreamline access to long-term capital. In 2020 the governmentpublished the Draft National Data Centre Policy27. Although notinitially implemented, the government reopened plans in 202528.The plan aims to make India a ‘global data center hub’ throughpolicy mechanisms such as simplifying policy to a single-window national policies addressing the sustainability of these facilities29,although some in the industry are taking steps themselves (forexample, companies including Equinix, Web Werks and CtrlS areprioritizing use of air-cooled chillers over water-cooled chillersfor their Indian data centers). use of renewable energy sources but does not mandate them,and it doesn’t address the issue of water consumption. This isdespite warnings of water shortages being a high-risk factor fordata centers in cities including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,and Delhi, and moderate-to-high risk for Mumbai. water security challenge and progress being made towardssolutions. It draws on publicly available data and a public attitudesurvey undertaken by BSI. A ‘very low’ score indicates low levelsof water insecurity and greatest progress towards solutions. China appears to be experiencing significant growth in its datacenter capacity, driven by factors including increasing digitalservices and data storage needs, as well as the roll out of 5G in 2022 with the aim of supporting continued growth of thedata center sector through a rebalance of supply and demandacross Easter