AI mega projects raise alarm in some of Europe’s driest regions

Europe Ambitious AI strategy At risk of clashing with an often overlooked but critically important environmental issue: Water scarcity.

The European Union has big plans to expand data centers, advertisement In April it said it intends to at least triple its capacity over the next five to seven years as part of its push to become a global hub for artificial intelligence.

The rapid deployment of data centers, which power all aspects of the digital economy, from social media and online banking to artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, has raised some concern – especially in areas already facing water scarcity.

This problem is particularly acute throughout southern Europe, where around 30% of the population lives known To be located in areas that suffer from permanent water stress. This refers to the situation where the demand for water exceeds the available supply during a specific period.

Data centers usually require Large amounts of water To protect them from excessive heat.

Big technology companies like Amazon, Microsoft and dead It has invested billions of US dollars in new facilities in Spain, for example, as has Google Plans to develop three axes In the Attica region of Greece.

Plans to build data centers in water-short areas across Europe reflect a lack of integrated thinking on the part of policymakers, Kevin Greksch, associate professor of water science, policy and management at the University of Oxford in the UK, told CNBC.

“AI is a buzzword and the talk of the town,” Greksch said. “So, national and regional politicians are trying to get their hands on it, and it’s like you’re investing in the future, creating some new jobs – but sustainability seems to have become an afterthought.”

Greksch said the rapid deployment of data centers across the region poses a lot of unanswered questions, such as, given that public water supplies in most jurisdictions take priority over everything else, what happens if data centers are shut down in a drought scenario? He admitted that he had no answer to this possibility.

“Data centers tend to be built in arid or semi-arid climates because that is the preferred environment for servers, yet those areas tend to be prone to water scarcity or prone to drought as well,” Greksch said.

A spokesman for the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, said the policies of the European Joint Initiative for High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC JU) include the selection of hosting sites for… Artificial intelligence factories Based on standards that prioritize energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

“Green computing will continue to be pursued through energy-efficient, AI-optimized supercomputers, using technologies such as dynamic power saving and reuse techniques such as advanced cooling and recycling of produced heat,” the spokesperson told CNBC via email.

The European Union pointed to the new JUPITER supercomputer in Jülich, Germany, as a “prime example of European excellence” in tackling energy efficiency, saying the system runs entirely on renewable energy and features “cutting-edge” cooling and energy reuse.

In Aragon, a highly water-stressed region in northeastern Spain, Amazon plans to open three data centers. The proposal made by the American technology giant He says It will create thousands of jobs Aroused tension Between local farmers and environmental activists.

In the United Kingdom, the small English village of Culham was chosen as the first village in the so-called artificial intelligence program launched by the British government.Growth areas“.” The Oxfordshire site was selected, which is close to one of the country’s sites First new tanks in 30 yearsIt has raised concerns that it could increase pressure on local water supplies.

Nick Kraft, senior analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said “extremely arid” areas with significant water stress are being targeted across Europe for further data center development.

“Complicating matters further is the fact that the most common understanding of water use in data centers, and typically reported by companies when communicating with local stakeholders, is on-site water use — or water used for cooling in data centers,” Kraft told CNBC via email.

“This is despite the fact that more than half of data centers’ water footprint is located off-site, occurring in power generation and semiconductor manufacturing,” he added.

Kraft said there are emerging signs that data center operators are maturing in their water management, but assessing the full water footprint of these projects is expected to remain a significant challenge.

Analysis published by S&P Global last month He said The data center industry’s average exposure to water stress is expected to be high in the 2020s, with southern European countries such as Spain and Greece expected to face the most water stress.

Microsoft has experimented with data center designs it says It consumes zero water for cooling and Start your campus The Sines facility in Portugal achieves a WUE of zero by recycling seawater through its systems, she said.

The EU Development Secretary General also sought to highlight the importance of data centers for the digital economy in the region.

“This represents trillions of dollars in GDP and millions of technology jobs in Europe alone – which on average pay salaries well above the national average wage.”20 [megawatt] A data center uses a similar amount of water as a golf course! How much GDP do golf courses produce? What kind of job?” Winterson said.

European legislators have already done this to caution On the growing water crisis in the region, he said there is an urgent need to address issues such as water scarcity, food security and pollution at a time when Europe is… The fastest warming continent On this planet.

For its part, the European Environment Agency said He said Late last month, it reported that the region’s water resources are currently under “severe pressure,” with water stress affecting a third of Europe’s population and territory.

When taking into account the increased demand for AI, Laura Ramsamy, climate and risk lead at data analytics platform Climate

In the Netherlands in 2022, for example, it is dead She stopped her plans To build a large data center in the region of Zeewolde amid objections over environmental concerns, especially high energy and water consumption.

Ireland, which has long embraced the rollout of data centers to facilitate the AI ​​boom, has also recently It has been scrutinized by environmental groupswith many of these hubs concentrated in the Dublin area.

It is worth noting that the Netherlands and Ireland have imposed effective bans on new data centers in the coming years due to concerns about network capacity and its environmental impact.

A spokesman for the Irish Department of Climate and Energy said the construction and operation of data centers had “contributed positively” to the Irish economy over the past decade.

“As with all sectors of our economy, the operation and development of data centers is dependent on Ireland’s legally binding climate targets and the need to maintain strong energy security,” the spokesman said.

They added: “It is understood that the largest data centers in Ireland primarily run air-cooled systems rather than water-cooled systems. This sets Ireland apart from many global data center locations.”