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Data centers reduce water use and power demand most effectively by treating them as connected, site-level problems: make IT workloads more efficient, remove the resulting heat with the right combination of cooling and controls, and measure both electricity and water across clear boundaries. No cooling system is best everywhere. Climate, local water availability, electricity supply, rack density, reliability needs, and existing equipment all affect which changes make sense.
Start with the workload and the heat it produces
Servers and other IT equipment use electricity to process workloads, and much of that electricity becomes heat that must be removed. The cooling system adds its own electricity demand, while some designs also consume water on site. The practical sequence is therefore to understand the IT load first, then assess how efficiently the facility moves and rejects its heat.
Workload-level water use is not determined by cooling equipment alone. A 2025 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory review identifies server efficiency and utilization, idle servers, the electricity grid’s water consumption, cooling design, infrastructure efficiency, climate, and hardware refresh cycles as relevant factors. It reports modeled workload-level water-use variation exceeding 10,000-fold, reflecting differences in water consumed per kilowatt-hour of server electricity and in workload efficiency. That spread is a warning against applying one facility’s water figure—or one cooling design—as a universal benchmark.
U.S. data-center electricity demand is also uncertain rather than a single settled forecast. A 2025 LBNL report update lists four alternative modeled estimates for 2030: 578, 664, 590, and 782 TWh, under differing assumptions involving installations, specialized graphics chips, chip lifetimes, and AI-server idle power and utilization. These are alternative scenario results, not additive amounts or a prediction that any one value will occur.
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Measure electricity and water with clear boundaries
Two common metrics help describe facility performance, but they measure different things. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) defines power usage effectiveness (PUE) as facility energy divided by IT equipment energy, and water usage effectiveness (WUE) as site water use divided by IT equipment energy. A lower value can indicate better performance for that metric, but neither metric alone captures every resource impact.
| Metric | What it compares | What to clarify when using it |
|---|---|---|
| PUE | Facility energy ÷ IT equipment energy | Which facility loads and IT equipment are included, and over what measurement period. |
| WUE | Site water use ÷ IT equipment energy | Which water sources and uses count as site water, and whether the reporting boundary is consistent. |
Track total facility electricity and IT electricity alongside site water use. Also consider water associated with electricity generation: a system that uses less water on site may require more power, and the power supply’s water impact varies by source and location. Comparing only a single metric can shift resource use out of view rather than reduce it overall.
Review temperature and humidity controls before replacing equipment
FEMP says some data centers operate at unnecessarily low space temperatures or keep humidity within an overly narrow range. Reviewing temperature and humidity set points against equipment guidance and facility requirements can reduce chiller demand and, where conditions allow, increase the hours when outside air can help cool the space. This is an engineering and reliability decision, not a guaranteed savings measure: permissible ranges and results depend on equipment, site conditions, and operating controls.
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- Multiple Reminder Methods: Our water leak sensor supports multiple remote alarm. It can instantly send SMS, APP, and Email notifications to your phone (no matter how many times the SMS is used, it's free). Also, the water leak sensor flashes red and sounds a 105 dB alarm. Perfect for the basement, kitchen, or vacation home!
- Feature-Rich App: Receive instant push notifications. Use the “Find Device” feature to quickly trigger audible beeps to retrieve misplaced sensors. Add multiple email addresses through the APP, and your family and friends can also receive reminders when there is a water leak at home.
- Industry Leading IP67 Waterproof: Its IP67 waterproof rating ensures durability against spills, humidity, and accidental submersion.It can be used multiple times after wiping dry.
- Four-level volume adjustment: Customize your own alarm to fit your life! Use the app to adjust the volume in 4 levels, with a maximum alarm volume of 105 decibels. Whether it's day or night, whether it's in the bedroom or the basement, you can find the right volume.
Where the design and weather permit, economizing can reduce mechanical cooling:
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- Air-side economizing brings in cool outdoor air when its temperature and air quality are suitable.
- Water-side economizing uses a heat exchanger and cooling tower to cool the chilled-water loop, reducing or bypassing chiller-compressor operation in suitable configurations.
Neither approach works equally well in every climate or facility. A review should account for outdoor conditions, air quality where outside air is used, system design, and the operating hours when economizing is actually available.
Improve cooling-tower water management
Cooling towers reject heat partly through evaporation. They also use blowdown—water discharged to control dissolved minerals—and can lose water through drift, or droplets carried out of the tower. Together, these are why tower operation and water treatment matter to site water use.
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“Cycles of concentration” describes the concentration of dissolved solids in tower water relative to makeup water. FEMP says cooling towers commonly operate at two to four cycles; six or more may be possible depending on water quality and treatment. Its guidance reports that moving from three to six cycles reduces cooling-tower makeup-water requirements by 20% and blowdown by 50%. Those figures describe a specific cooling-tower operating change, not guaranteed savings for every data center; water chemistry, treatment capability, and system limits determine whether the change is appropriate.
Filtration alone does not necessarily reduce the heat that IT equipment generates or the cooling demand that follows. FEMP cautions: “However, side stream filtration systems will not reduce the facility’s power consumption or water use without additional technologies or operational modifications that reduce the cooling demand from the IT equipment.” Treat filtration as one element of water management, not a substitute for demand reduction or operating improvements.
Compare cooling options by their full water and power effects
Cooling choices should be assessed as complete heat-rejection systems. On-site water, electricity use, water associated with power generation, local water stress, cooling capacity, reliability, and retrofit and maintenance needs all belong in the comparison.
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Evaporative and dry cooling
Evaporative cooling uses water to reject heat. Dry coolers can reduce on-site water use, but FEMP notes they may use more electricity than evaporative cooling. That additional electricity can shift some water use to power generation, depending on the electricity supply. In a water-constrained location, reducing site water may still be a priority, but the decision should account for the local grid and the facility’s power demand rather than treating a lower site-water figure as the whole result.
Direct liquid cooling
Direct liquid cooling transfers heat from IT equipment into a recirculating liquid loop. It can reduce air movement and improve heat-transfer efficiency, but the result depends on the system configuration. Some liquid-cooled systems still reject heat through chillers and cooling towers; others pair liquid cooling with air-cooled or hybrid heat rejection. FEMP describes potential PUE and WUE benefits alongside additional controls and maintenance requirements.
FEMP cites the National Laboratory of the Rockies data center as a facility-specific example: its described hybrid system achieved a PUE of 1.06 and WUE of 0.7. These figures illustrate one installation and are not typical-performance guarantees or targets for every site.
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Reuse of cooling-tower blowdown
Reverse-osmosis treatment can turn cooling-tower blowdown into water suitable for reuse as makeup, which may help where water is constrained. The trade-off is additional electricity, operation, and maintenance; FEMP notes that RO can worsen PUE. Its value depends on the local water situation and on whether the reuse benefit justifies those added requirements.
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- Establish a baseline. Record IT and total facility electricity, site water use, PUE, and WUE with consistent boundaries and measurement periods. Note cooling configuration, water source, and local water constraints.
- Find avoidable demand. Examine IT utilization and idle equipment, then review temperature and humidity controls against equipment guidance and reliability requirements.
- Identify operating opportunities. Check whether air-side or water-side economizing is suitable for the climate and system. For cooling towers, assess water quality, treatment, blowdown, drift, and feasible cycles of concentration.
- Compare system changes as a whole. For dry cooling, liquid cooling, blowdown reuse, or other changes, compare expected facility electricity, site water, power-generation water implications, heat-rejection capacity, reliability, maintenance, and retrofit complexity.
- Verify the result. Meter performance after changes using the same boundaries as the baseline. Check both water and energy outcomes; a gain in one metric may come with a cost in another.
DOE FEMP’s guidance is particularly useful for federal facilities and the cooling-tower measures it addresses. Its reported savings and case-study figures should be applied only to the conditions described, not generalized into universal data-center guarantees. For broader design questions, FEMP’s 2024 data-center design guide covers energy-efficient design, including chilled-water considerations.
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