NEW YORK, January 25, 2026 — The artificial intelligence revolution is fundamentally transforming global energy infrastructure. According to the International Energy Agency, data center electricity consumption could surge from 415 TWh in 2024 to 945 TWh by 2030, while water usage threatens to consume resources equivalent to the household needs of 6-10 million Americans annually.

Executive Summary

The convergence of AI computing demands, water scarcity, and energy transition goals presents the defining infrastructure challenge of the decade. Data centers now consume approximately 1.5% of global electricity, a figure projected to double or triple by 2030. The Pew Research Center reports that U.S. data centers could consume 12% of national electricity by 2028, up from 4.4% today.

"Artificial intelligence is changing every sector of society, but its rapid growth comes with a real footprint in energy, water and carbon," said Fengqi You, Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor at Cornell Engineering, in an interview with Cornell Chronicle. "Our study is built to answer a simple question: Given the magnitude of the AI computing boom, what environmental trajectory will it take?"

Key Takeaways

• Global data center electricity demand to reach 134.4 GW by 2030, nearly tripling from 2024 levels
• AI water footprint estimated at 312.5-764.6 billion liters in 2025—comparable to global bottled water consumption
• Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon securing 10+ GW of nuclear power through unprecedented deals
• NVIDIA Blackwell B200 GPUs consume 1,200W each, requiring liquid cooling infrastructure
• Texas data centers alone projected to use 399 billion gallons of water by 2030

The Energy Consumption Crisis

The power demands of AI infrastructure have reached unprecedented levels. According to S&P Global, U.S. data center grid power demand will rise 22% in 2025 alone, reaching 61.8 GW before climbing to 134.4 GW by 2030.

The shift from traditional computing to AI workloads has fundamentally altered power requirements. Modern AI rack densities now exceed 100 kW per rack, compared to just 4-10 kW for conventional data center equipment. NVIDIA's latest Blackwell B200 GPUs consume up to 1,200W each—a 71% increase over the 700W H100 chips that powered the first wave of generative AI, according to Data Center Dynamics.

Table 1: GPU Power Consumption Evolution

GPU Model	TDP (Watts)	Architecture	Cooling Requirement
NVIDIA A100	400W	Ampere	Air Cooling
NVIDIA H100	700W	Hopper	Air/Liquid Hybrid
NVIDIA H200	700W	Hopper	Air/Liquid Hybrid
NVIDIA B100	700W	Blackwell	Liquid Cooling
NVIDIA B200	1,000-1,200W	Blackwell	Liquid Cooling Required

"In 2025, data centers evolved from passive utility customers to active energy planners, investing in on-site generation, battery storage, and flexible demand to serve AI compute and hit sustainability targets," noted Data Center Knowledge in its year-end analysis.

The Water Scarcity Dilemma

While energy consumption captures headlines, water usage represents an equally critical challenge. Research published in Cell Patterns by Alex de Vries estimates AI systems consumed 312.5-764.6 billion liters of water in 2025—comparable to the entire global bottled water industry.

A joint study by the Houston Advanced Research Center and University of Houston projects Texas data centers will consume 49 billion gallons of water in 2025, escalating to 399 billion gallons by 2030. This volume would lower Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir, by over 16 feet in a single year.

"There isn't a silver bullet," Professor You explained. "Siting, grid decarbonization and efficient operations work together—that's how you get reductions on the order of roughly 73% for carbon and 86% for water."

Table 2: Hyperscaler Water Usage and Commitments

Company	Annual Water Usage	Water Stress Exposure	2030 Commitment
Google	8.1 billion gallons	15% in high-stress areas	Water Positive
Microsoft	1.69 billion gallons	42% in stressed areas	Water Positive, Carbon Negative
Meta	Not fully disclosed	Under assessment	Water Positive, Net-Zero
Amazon/AWS	Not disclosed	Not disclosed	Water Positive by 2030

Microsoft has responded with aggressive innovation. According to the Microsoft Cloud Blog, all new datacenters starting August 2024 use zero-water evaporative cooling designs, avoiding 125 million liters of water per year per facility.

The Nuclear Renaissance

Facing power constraints, technology giants are turning to nuclear energy at unprecedented scale. CNBC reported that Meta has signed deals for 6.6 GW of nuclear capacity through 2035, partnering with Vistra, TerraPower, and Oklo to power its Prometheus AI supercluster in Ohio.

Microsoft's landmark $1.6 billion agreement to restart Three Mile Island's dormant reactor—signed with Constellation Energy—marks the first nuclear restart specifically for data center power. Amazon has announced a 5 GW small modular reactor (SMR) deployment program, according to Utility Dive.

"The question for policymakers today is whether data center electricity usage is part of a sustained boom, and if not, who gets tagged with the stranded infrastructure investments," said Abe Silverman of the Johns Hopkins Ralph O'Connor Sustainable Energy Institute, speaking to Johns Hopkins Hub.

Grid Strain and Infrastructure Investments

The rapid expansion has created severe grid bottlenecks. Virginia, home to the world's largest data center cluster, now faces 7-year grid connection wait times—up from 2-3 years previously. The state's data centers consume 26% of total electricity, according to the World Economic Forum.

Goldman Sachs estimates $720 billion in grid upgrades will be required through 2030 to support data center growth. The PJM capacity market—covering the mid-Atlantic region—saw data centers responsible for a $9.3 billion price increase in 2025-26 auctions.

Table 3: Regional Data Center Power Demand Projections

Region/State	2025 Demand	2030 Projection	% of State Grid
Virginia	12.1 GW	25+ GW	26%
Texas	9.7 GW	20+ GW	15%
Oregon	4.0 GW	8+ GW	18%
Ireland (National)	21% of grid	32% of grid	32%
United States (Total)	61.8 GW	134.4 GW	12%

Cooling Technology Evolution

The shift to liquid cooling has become mandatory for AI workloads. Tom's Hardware reports that liquid cooling held 46% of the data center cooling market in 2024, with projections for 142% growth through 2030. Direct-to-chip cooling removes 70-80% of heat loads at the processor level.

According to Deloitte, hyperscaler capital expenditure reached $200 billion in 2024 and will exceed $315 billion in 2025, with cooling infrastructure representing a growing share of investments.

Why This Matters for Industry Stakeholders

For enterprise IT leaders, the implications extend beyond sustainability optics. Power availability now determines data center location decisions, with grid connection timelines affecting project viability. Companies siting facilities in water-stressed regions face increasing regulatory scrutiny and community opposition.

Investors are closely watching the sector's environmental trajectory. MSCI analysis indicates 45% of data centers may face high water stress exposure by the 2050s, with 30% of facilities currently under construction located in regions with intensifying scarcity.

For consumers, the NPR investigation found electricity prices could rise up to 20% in data center-dense regions as utilities pass infrastructure upgrade costs to ratepayers.

Forward Outlook

The path to sustainable AI infrastructure requires coordinated action across technology, policy, and investment domains. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy recommends prioritizing data center development in Midwest and "windbelt" states, where renewable resources and water availability offer optimal sustainability profiles.

Research from Duke University's Nicholas Institute suggests the grid could integrate 76-126 GW of new data center demand without capacity expansion if operators accept modest curtailments of 0.25-1% annually.

The EU's Energy Efficiency Directive now mandates public reporting of power usage effectiveness, water consumption, and carbon footprint for data centers over 500kW—a transparency model that may spread globally.

"Unless major changes are enacted, utilities in the mid-Atlantic region are predicting a substantially higher chance of rolling blackouts by the end of the decade as new data center loads exceed the available electricity supply," warned Silverman.

BUSINESS 2.0 has no commercial relationship with companies mentioned.