AI will stop consuming half a liter of water per question thanks to Microsoft's new design

We have said it many times, bringing AI to life costs a lot of water. Also the cloud and large-scale computing. And all these large and heavy tasks take place in large data centers or servers, which need to be cooled on a large scale, and water has been the most used element so far to achieve this. Even though it is a scarce resource.

Well, fortunately for the planet and the living beings that inhabit it, Microsoft believes that the key lies in recycled water. Microsoft’s latest data centers will employ a new cooling system that does not extract water from the environment.

The design aims to address environmental concerns as the rise of AI drives the construction of data centers.

A system that is a closed circuit where water is not lost

Although the company calls its new design a “waterless” system, it still uses water to cool its servers. Unlike traditional data centers, which divert and evaporate billions of liters per year, Microsoft’s new system recycles water between the servers and coolers in a closed loop that does not require new water after the initial construction. As in any normal building, only the kitchens and bathrooms need external water.

On the negative side, the company plans to continue using older facilities cooled by air and water with traditional cooling systems, but it is gradually working to reduce its water consumption. Since 2021, the total water consumption of Microsoft’s data centers has decreased by 39%: from 0.49 to 0.30 liters per kilowatt hour.

AI depends on water—and so do we. Proud that Microsoft's new datacenters will consume zero water for cooling, meaning each one will avoid using 125 million liters of water every year. Thanks to the teams paving the way for a more sustainable future.https://t.co/NdxgyOih1F

— Mustafa Suleyman (@mustafasuleyman) December 9, 2024

However, the new system, which the company plans to use in all its future data centers, reduces that figure to almost zero. The new facilities will begin to employ it in Phoenix (Arizona) and Mt. Pleasant (Wisconsin) in 2026, and more are planned for other locations by 2027.

Microsoft estimates that each data center using the new design could save more than 125 million liters of water per year. The main drawback is the higher energy consumption, but new chip-level cooling methods that allow for higher operating temperatures could mitigate the impact.

By the way, the most ambitious plan for efficient data center operation could be to put them in orbit. No joke: free cooling by being in Space and unlimited solar energy.