Data Centers: Power Hungry Giants Facing Environmental Scrutiny

Due to the AI boom, data centers are sprouting up worldwide like mushrooms after the rain. To operate, they don’t just require an enormous amount of electricity, but also water for cooling. In Malaysia, the scale of the problems has begun to be understood, with at least one location banning the construction of regular data centers.

The state of Johor has started rejecting all proposals to build Tier I and II data centers. This is despite Johor being the technological hub of the country. Water shortages have forced authorities to halt any attempts to build data centers that are not of the third or fourth levels.

Data centers are divided into four categories: two lower tiers have one cooling and power circuit, while the larger, high-performance ones have multiple systems. More importantly, the latter usually possesses much higher energy efficiency, which in the current context means more efficient use of water.

The state government mentions that Tier I data centers consume about 40-50 million liters of water per day, whereas Tier III and IV consume an average of only about 200,000 liters, marking a difference of more than two orders of magnitude.

Globally, technological marvels are attempting to tackle these challenges. Innovations in cooling solutions, such as liquid immersion cooling and adiabatic cooling, are increasingly being implemented to drastically reduce water consumption and enhance energy efficiency. In countries like Singapore and the Netherlands, regulations now mandate stricter sustainability practices for data center operations, showcasing that integrated technological and regulatory approaches are crucial to sustainable infrastructure development.