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Facebook runs on Meta’s global network of hyperscale data centers—the same fleet that supports Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and the company’s AI workloads. The facilities span the United States, Europe and Asia. Their cooling, water use and power supply vary by site, while Meta’s expanding AI infrastructure is making energy sourcing, water demand and local capacity increasingly important questions.
What Meta’s data centers do
A data center is more than a building full of servers. Meta describes its facilities as the infrastructure that brings its technologies and programs to life. They combine computing, storage and networking equipment with mechanical systems and cooling equipment. The exact hardware mix changes with the facility’s generation and the work it handles.
Meta’s locations map spans Asia, Europe and the United States. The company does not publish a single, comparable set of consumption figures for every individual site, so a fleet-wide number should not be read as the profile of any one campus.
Designing for longer use
Meta says its engineering work includes modular designs, reuse, retrofitting, dematerialization, lower-impact materials and longer hardware lifecycles. Those approaches aim to reduce embodied emissions—the emissions associated with making and building equipment and facilities, rather than operating them.
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How Meta cools servers—and what that means for water
Meta says it selects cooling technology based on a site’s location, climate, available resources and technology needs, working with the local water utility. That means there is no single cooling design or water-use figure that applies to every data center.
Direct-to-chip liquid cooling and dry coolers
For a typical newer design, Meta describes direct-to-chip liquid cooling in a closed loop. Coolant circulates through the data halls, carries heat away from servers and is cooled using dry coolers: air moves over pipes to remove heat. Meta says designs of this kind can operate without water for cooling. Remaining water use at such a site can include domestic, janitorial, cleaning and fire-protection needs.
That description applies to the design Meta characterizes as typical for newer facilities; it does not establish that every facility uses this system or has zero water use. Climate, design and operating phase matter, and the company’s published fleet-level figures do not provide a definitive, comparable site-by-site water-use ranking.
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- Easy equipment configuration: Fully adjustable mounting rails and numbered U positions, with square holes for easy equipment mounting with top and bottom punchout panels for easy cable access
- Durability: Made of high quality cold rolled steel holds up to 110lb (50kg) (Easy Assembly Required)
- PCI & HIPPA and EIA/ECA-310-E compliant
Water stewardship and restoration
Meta says it uses AI to optimize cooling and digital-twin models to estimate short- and long-term water use. Its goal is to be water positive by 2030—a target, not a statement that the goal has already been achieved. The company reports more than 40 water-restoration projects across nine watersheds since 2017. In 2024, it says those operational restoration projects returned more than 1.59 billion gallons to regions with high or medium water stress.
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Meta publishes several sustainability indicators for its owned facilities and energy portfolio, but the measures describe different things. In particular, matching electricity use with clean and renewable energy is a procurement and accounting claim; it does not mean every electron consumed at a data center physically came from a renewable source at that moment.
| Measure | What Meta reports | Scope and date |
|---|---|---|
| Clean and renewable electricity matching | 100% | Meta says electricity for its owned data centers and offices is matched with clean and renewable energy; current company reporting. This is a matching claim, not a claim about the physical source of every unit consumed onsite. |
| LEED certification | 100% at LEED Gold or higher | Meta’s current reporting for its owned data centers. |
| Construction waste diverted from landfill | 91% | Meta, 2024; share of owned data-center construction waste. |
| Energy portfolio projects producing power | 89 of 128 projects online | Meta’s portfolio count at the end of 2024. |
| Water returned through restoration | More than 1.59 billion gallons | Meta, 2024; operational restoration projects in high- and medium-water-stress regions. |
These figures offer useful context, but they are not interchangeable: construction-waste diversion is not an operational emissions measure, and energy-project counts do not state how much electricity a particular data center consumed. Meta says it approaches sustainability across design, construction and operations, with priorities including energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, water stewardship and responsible end-of-life equipment management.
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A long-term nuclear-power agreement
In June 2025, Meta and Constellation announced a 20-year agreement for 1,121 megawatts of emissions-free nuclear power from the Clinton Clean Energy Center. The agreement is one example of the generation arrangements Meta is pursuing; it is not a site-specific measure of the electricity mix at every data center.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How AI is changing data-center construction
AI workloads are contributing to a new wave of large data-center projects. A campus can require substantial electricity, cooling capacity, buildings and supporting infrastructure, so the practical questions are not only how much computing it provides, but also how it will source power, manage water and affect local roads and utilities. Three announced projects illustrate different parts of that picture; their reported schedules are plans, not confirmation of later completion.
| Project | Plans reported | What to examine |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas City | Meta announced a LEED Gold facility with more water-efficient cooling than the industry standard and an AI-optimized design. The first data center was slated to come online in 2026. | The announcement highlights cooling design and certification, but does not provide a comparable site-level water-use figure. |
| Jeffersonville, Indiana | The Associated Press reported in January 2024 that Meta planned an $800 million facility of nearly 700,000 square feet, about 100 long-term jobs and a projected 2026 operational date. | The reported scale and schedule describe the announced project; they do not establish its eventual completion or operating performance. |
| Louisiana | The Associated Press reported in December 2024 that Meta planned a $10 billion AI data-center project, including $200 million for local roads and water infrastructure. The report also described proposed natural-gas generation to support the campus. | The proposed generation and infrastructure commitments are central to assessing how the project may affect local resources and power supply. |
For any new campus, the most useful comparisons are its cooling-water demand, electricity source and any additional generation, the size of its buildings and campus, commitments to local infrastructure, and the specificity of its disclosed performance data. A large investment or a sustainability label alone cannot answer all of those questions.
Quick Recap
What the available figures can—and cannot—tell you
- Fleet metrics are not site rankings. Meta’s aggregate reporting does not establish which individual data center uses the most water or electricity.
- Targets are not achieved results. Meta’s 2030 water-positive goal should be understood as a target; restoration totals are reported activity, not proof that every site has balanced its water use.
- Project announcements are plans. The dates and specifications in the Kansas City, Indiana and Louisiana examples reflect announcements or reporting at the time, not verified current operating status.
- Matching is not physical delivery. Meta’s 100% clean and renewable electricity matching for owned data centers and offices does not show that each facility runs on physically renewable electricity at every hour.
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