UN institute: Power, water use at data centers to double by 2030 on AI
A UN research body reported that global data centers will double their electricity and water consumption by 2030 to support AI demands, ranking their power use sixth globally if treated as a country. The report highlights environmental concerns, including critical mineral extraction in regions with weak oversight and electronic waste equivalent to 250 Eiffel Towers annually, while noting inequitable distribution of AI’s benefits and burdens.
A new report by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warns that global data centers will double their electricity and water consumption by 2030 to meet the demands of artificial intelligence. If data centers were considered a country, their electricity use would rank sixth worldwide, consuming vast amounts of power. The report also highlights water demand, projecting that by 2030, data centers will require roughly the same amount of water as the minimum needs of all 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa. This strain on resources raises significant environmental concerns. The institute points out that critical minerals used in servers and AI hardware are primarily extracted in the Global South, where oversight is often weaker. Additionally, the annual weight of electronic waste generated could equal that of 250 Eiffel Towers, further exacerbating environmental pressures. The report emphasizes that the expansion of AI brings both benefits and burdens, but these are not distributed equally. Some regions will bear a disproportionate share of the environmental impact while others reap most of the technological advantages.
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