Data centers use most of their electricity to run servers, then more to cool equipment and support storage, networking and reliable operation. Their water footprint includes both water used at the facility and water consumed upstream to generate electricity and manufacture chips. Demand is rising as cloud services and other digital activity expand, while AI adds more accelerated computing and energy-intensive applications.
What do data centers use electricity for?
A data center houses servers, storage systems, networking equipment and the infrastructure that keeps them operating. Servers process and store information using CPUs and, for some workloads, accelerators such as GPUs. Cooling and environmental controls manage heat, temperature and humidity; power systems condition electricity and help keep service available through outages.
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The International Energy Agency’s 2025 breakdown gives approximate shares for modern data centers. These are averages or ranges, not a fixed recipe for every facility:
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| Electricity use | Share or role |
|---|---|
| Servers | Around 60% of electricity demand on average (IEA, 2025). |
| Storage | Around 5% (IEA, 2025). |
| Networking | Up to 5% (IEA, 2025). |
| Cooling and environmental control | About 7% in efficient hyperscale data centers to more than 30% at less-efficient enterprise sites (IEA, 2025). |
| Other facility loads | Includes power conditioning, backup systems, lighting and staff office equipment; the IEA does not assign one universal share. |
Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) batteries and backup generators are typically used infrequently, but they support reliability when the grid fails. Cooling’s share varies substantially with facility design and efficiency, so a server-heavy facility and a less-efficient site can have very different electricity profiles.
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How much water do data centers use?
There is no single water figure that describes every data center. A useful accounting separates direct water consumed onsite—most notably for cooling—from indirect water consumed elsewhere to supply electricity and manufacture semiconductors. Withdrawals are the total water taken from sources such as rivers or groundwater; consumption is the portion not returned to its original source, for example because it evaporates.
In its 2025 assessment, the IEA estimated that of data-center water consumption in 2023, about two-thirds was associated with primary energy supply and electricity generation, about one-quarter with direct cooling, and the remainder with semiconductor and microchip manufacturing. The mix changes with cooling technology, climate and electricity source.
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Global estimates and a facility example
- The IEA estimated global data-center water consumption at around 560 billion litres per year currently and projected around 1,200 billion litres per year in its 2030 base case (2025 assessment). These are global estimates, not a measure of any individual facility.
- For an average 100 MW hyperscale data center in the United States, the IEA modelled total consumption of around 2 million litres per day, with over 60% indirect (2025 assessment). This is an illustrative modelled average, not a universal rate or a figure that can be inferred from a facility’s nameplate power alone.
Cooling systems trade off water and electricity differently. The IEA describes direct-expansion cooling as many times less water-intensive than airside economiser and adiabatic cooling with water-cooled chillers. That does not mean one design is best everywhere: climate and local electricity supply also shape the impact, and reducing direct water use can affect electricity demand. Assess both resources in the facility’s local context.
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Why are data center electricity and water demands growing?
More cloud computing, online media and social media activity all require computing capacity. AI adds demand for high-performance computing and accelerated servers, and newer uses can be more energy-intensive than simple text generation. AI is an important growth driver, but it is not the only one.
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Projection years and baselines matter. The IEA’s 2025 report estimated that global data-center electricity use reached 415 TWh in 2024, about 1.5% of global electricity consumption, after average annual growth of 12% over the preceding five years. Its 2025 base case projected around 945 TWh in 2030, just under 3% of global electricity consumption. In that scenario, electricity use by accelerated servers was projected to grow about 30% annually, compared with 9% for conventional servers.
The IEA’s 2026 update provides a newer outlook rather than a continuation of the 2025 report’s baseline: it estimates demand at around 485 TWh in 2025 and projects around 950 TWh in 2030, roughly 3% of global electricity demand. It reports that data-center electricity demand grew 17% in 2025, while demand from AI-focused data centers grew 50%; it expects AI-focused data-center electricity use to triple from 2025 to 2030. These are estimates and projections, not measured outcomes for future years.
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Efficiency per AI task is improving, but total demand depends on how much computing people use and what they use it for. Video generation, reasoning and agentic tasks can consume far more energy per query than simple text generation. Efficiency gains therefore do not, on their own, determine whether overall electricity use will rise or fall.
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Global totals can obscure concentrated impacts. Data-center electricity demand is clustered in particular locations, where grid capacity can make new load harder to integrate. Water effects likewise depend on local availability and competing needs, including agriculture and municipal supply. A facility’s impact cannot be reliably inferred from global averages alone.
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- For electricity: compare the loads for servers, storage, networking, cooling and other infrastructure, and consider local grid constraints.
- For water: distinguish onsite consumption from upstream consumption, identify the cooling design, and account for climate and local water stress.
- For indirect water: consider the electricity-generation mix. The IEA’s comparison notes that wind and solar photovoltaics use far less water than fossil sources for energy supply.
- For projections: check the publisher, publication year, baseline year, geography and scenario before comparing figures.
The European Environment Agency describes AI’s water footprint as spanning onsite cooling, electricity generation and semiconductor manufacturing. It reports that almost 20% of EU data centers in recent reporting were in regions with at least 165 cooling degree days annually, a condition that increases cooling requirements. The EEA also relays a Morgan Stanley 2025 projection of 1,068 billion litres by 2028 for AI-driven cooling and electricity-generation water consumption. That secondary estimate has a narrower scope than the IEA’s global water estimate, so the figures are not directly comparable.
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