There is no reliable universal ranking that says a data center uses more electricity or water than a factory, mine, farm, or other large power user. The local effect depends on the facility’s size and operating pattern, the grid and water system it connects to, and who pays for new infrastructure. To compare a proposed data center fairly, look at its hourly power demand, direct and indirect water use, local emissions, land and infrastructure needs, and binding economic commitments—not just one national statistic.
How large is data-center electricity demand?
Data centers are a large and growing electricity load, but national and global projections do not describe the effect of a particular project on its host community. The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2026 update to the national Data Center Energy Usage Report estimates that data centers could account for 11.8% of U.S. electricity use in 2030, with a scenario range of 9.5% to 15.3%. That is a projection for the country, not a measurement of current use or a forecast for any one utility territory.
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Globally, the International Energy Agency’s 2025 Energy and AI Base Case puts data-center electricity use at 460 terawatt-hours in 2024 and more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2030. The global figure and the U.S. projection cover different geographies and should not be compared as if they measured the same system.
Neither figure establishes that a data center is larger than a particular factory or industrial site. A useful comparison needs facility-level data with the same boundary and time period. Annual energy alone can hide important differences: two sites may consume similar amounts over a year while having very different peak demands, hours of operation, and ability to reduce load when the grid is strained.
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What should be compared with another large power user?
Compare the facilities on the same measures, for the same location and year. A data center and a steel mill, semiconductor fab, electrolyzer, mine, or refinery can have different load profiles and infrastructure needs even if their annual electricity use is similar. The available evidence does not provide a harmonized, per-facility dataset for ranking those sectors across power, water, emissions, jobs, and land.
| Comparison measure | What to request or check | Why it matters locally |
|---|---|---|
| Electricity demand | Average and peak megawatts; annual energy; hourly or seasonal profile; expected ramping; and whether any load can be interrupted or shifted. | A steady, around-the-clock load can affect planning differently from a peaky or flexible load, even when annual energy is alike. |
| Grid connection and cost | Interconnection studies, required transmission or substation upgrades, local congestion, available supply, applicable rate class, minimum-bill rules, and responsibility for dedicated infrastructure. | These details help establish whether the project requires new capacity and whether the facility, utility customers, or another party pays for it. |
| Water | On-site withdrawals and consumption; freshwater versus reclaimed water; cooling method; seasonal demand; water used to generate its electricity; and watershed conditions. | Water drawn at the facility is not the same as water withdrawn or consumed at power plants serving it. Neither figure alone explains pressure on a particular watershed. |
| Emissions and air quality | Electricity supply at the relevant place and time; on-site generation; backup-generator testing and operation; and local pollutants. | Contractual renewable-energy claims should be kept separate from the physical mix of electricity delivered on the local grid. |
| Land and nuisance | Site acreage; substation and transmission footprint; construction traffic; noise; visual effects; backup generation; and proximity to homes or other sensitive uses. | Impacts depend on site design, surrounding land uses, construction, and operating practices rather than on the facility label alone. |
| Economic return | Construction and permanent jobs, wages, taxes, incentives, public infrastructure costs, and whether commitments are enforceable. | Gross investment is not the same as a net community benefit; consider public costs and the use or development displaced by the project. |
A comparison should state its geographic boundary, year, facility size, electricity and water metrics, and whether figures are observed or projected. If a proposed project’s documents report only annual electricity use, for example, they do not establish its peak grid demand or how flexible its operations are.
Do data centers use more water than other industries?
There is no sound basis here for saying data centers use more water than farms, semiconductor manufacturers, or other industries overall. Water-use reporting is less consistent than reporting on energy and greenhouse gases, and “water use” can refer to different things: a withdrawal from a source, water consumed and not returned to that source, or water used indirectly to produce electricity.
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Count on-site cooling separately
Ask the operator and water provider for the facility’s expected withdrawals and consumption, broken down by source and season. Freshwater and reclaimed water are not interchangeable from a community-planning perspective. Cooling design also matters: a facility’s direct water needs can differ substantially with its system and operating conditions. The figures should be assessed alongside drought plans, watershed stress, municipal demand, agriculture, ecological needs, and other industrial users.
Include water used to generate electricity
Electricity production can require water, so a data center’s indirect water footprint may be material even where its own cooling withdrawals are lower. Ceres’ 2026 analysis of seven U.S. states—which together host about half of U.S. data centers—estimates that the data centers in those states depend on about 3.4 trillion gallons of freshwater annually for electricity generation. This is a regional aggregate tied to power generation, not the data centers’ direct cooling withdrawals and not a figure for every U.S. data center.
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Within the power systems covered by that Ceres analysis, 78% of electricity came from power plants that use water to operate; 66% of those water-using plants were exposed to medium-high to extremely high water stress. Those percentages apply to the report’s seven-state scope, not all U.S. electricity generation. They help identify why water accounting must include both the site and its electricity supply, but they do not predict the effect of a specific proposed facility.
The OECD’s 2024 Digital Economy Outlook, Volume 2, notes that data centers can compete locally with agriculture and hospitals for water and that semiconductor manufacturing also uses large amounts. It also cautions: “The impact of water use to support digital technologies is not well understood due to lack of data.” That uncertainty is a reason to request consistent, site-specific disclosures, not to assume water use is negligible or to claim a sector-wide winner.
Can a large data-center load make electricity more expensive or less reliable?
It can add pressure to a local power system, but its effect on reliability and bills depends on where and when the load arrives, the available generation and transmission, and how infrastructure costs are allocated. A large, steady load may require new generation, transmission, substations, or other upgrades. The project’s interconnection and utility planning records are needed to determine what is actually required.
Do not infer that household bills will rise simply because a data center is proposed or built. Check the local utility’s tariff and cost-allocation rules: the relevant questions include whether the customer has a dedicated rate, minimum-bill requirements, who pays for customer-specific upgrades, and how shared system investments are recovered. The same scrutiny applies to reliability claims. A project’s demand forecast should be considered against the utility’s peak forecasts, supply margin, congestion, and plans for meeting demand.
Power procurement claims also need a physical-versus-contractual distinction. The IEA’s 2025 analysis discusses data-center electricity supply and the role of contractual procurement. A renewable-energy contract may document a commercial purchase or financing arrangement, but it does not by itself show that the local grid is supplied by zero-emission electricity at every hour the facility operates. For local air-quality and emissions questions, examine the grid’s physical supply at relevant times as well as on-site generation and backup-generator operation.
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What other local impacts belong in the comparison?
Electricity is only one part of a community impact assessment. Data centers can require large sites and grid connections, bring construction activity and permanent operating needs, and introduce noise or backup-generator emissions. Whether these are significant depends on location, design, operating practices, and nearby land uses; the facility type alone does not establish a uniform effect.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsEconomic benefits also need a local accounting. Separate temporary construction jobs from permanent jobs, and request expected wages, tax payments, incentives, public infrastructure spending, and enforceable commitments. There is no like-for-like evidence here for jobs per megawatt across data centers and other industrial sectors, so claims that one sector creates more local employment should be supported by comparable project data.
Finally, consider what the facility enables. Digital services may substitute for activities that use electricity in physical settings, but that does not make every data-center load an environmental saving. A 2025 UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero study modeled three specific comparisons—streaming versus Blu-ray, eBooks versus printed books, and AI translation versus human translation. In the studied scenarios, digital delivery either matched or substantially undercut the electricity use of the physical alternative across the delivery chain. Those results are limited to the modeled cases and electricity boundary; they are not a general finding about all digital activity or a complete comparison of carbon and other lifecycle impacts. Rebound effects or induced demand also need to be considered where relevant evidence exists.
What should a community request before approving a project?
National projections and regional water estimates can identify issues to investigate, but they cannot determine a particular project’s local costs or benefits. Ask the operator, utility, water provider, and public authorities for records that connect the project’s expected demand to local system capacity and binding commitments.
- Facility demand: expected average and peak megawatts, annual electricity use, hourly or seasonal load shape, ramping, expected expansion, and any ability to curtail or shift demand.
- Grid effects: utility load forecasts and system plans; interconnection studies; needed generation, transmission, and substation work; local congestion; reliability analysis; and the party responsible for each cost.
- Rates and customer protection: proposed rate class, minimum-bill terms, dedicated-facility charges, and how project-related shared upgrades will be recovered.
- Water effects: direct withdrawals and consumption by source and season; cooling design; reclaimed-water availability; indirect power-generation water; provider capacity; watershed stress; and drought contingencies.
- Air, land, and noise: site acreage, transmission footprint, construction impacts, on-site generation and backup-generator plans, expected operating hours, emissions controls, noise, and nearby sensitive uses.
- Public return: projected jobs and wages, tax revenue, subsidies or incentives, public infrastructure costs, and written, enforceable mitigation or community-benefit commitments.
- Public accountability: the assumptions, measurement boundaries, reporting schedule, and responsible party for checking actual performance against forecasts after construction.
These records make it possible to distinguish a national trend from a local consequence and to compare the proposal with realistic alternatives for the same site and infrastructure. If a key figure is missing, such as peak demand or seasonal water consumption, the project’s total local impact remains unresolved rather than automatically high or low.
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