Seemingly overnight, artificial intelligence is now built into everything from iPhones and Google searches to online services like Amazon. As entire industries work to adapt to the sweeping change of artificial intelligence, data centers — the buildings that serve as the engines of AI and cloud computing — pose explosive demands on energy and water.
Left unaddressed, data centers’ loads threaten Western states’ air quality, climate, and water supplies, while risking utilities’ ability to meet statutory, corporate, and science-based emissions reductions goals. With the right policies in place, however, data centers can catalyze investments in innovative clean energy resources while driving broader system transformation.
WRA’s new report explores how data centers are impacting the West’s energy growth and water demand and what we can do to still meet climate and water conservation goals.
