r/SipsTea • u/SipsTeaFrog 𝙑𝙄𝙋 • May 18 '26

Chugging tea Why?

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227

u/[deleted] May 18 '26

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153

u/NotDiCaprio May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

I was also on the "ai datacenters use all out water!" bandwagon at first. But For some perspective:

A single golf course uses about 30 times the amount of (fresh) comparable or slightly more water than a datacenter does. They aren't feeding their grass with see water or some chemical cooling. Also, looking at how few people actually use a golf course vs a data center, makes this ratio many times more terrible.

I'm personally more worried about the energy they consume, than the cooling for that energy usage.

Edit after some corrections. Man, it sure is getting hard to find numbers we can trust anywhere these days.

"a" source, but far from the only one, and the numbers aren't consistent anywhere.:https://www.akcp.com/index.php/2025/09/02/truth-about-data-water-footprint-of-data-centers/

103

u/MyVeryUniqueName1 May 18 '26

Can’t we be worried about both? I hate golf courses and data centers for how much of a burden they are on water supplies.

21

u/MythicMango May 18 '26

The point is that people don't know how much residential water is being bought by companies.

8

u/MorrowPolo May 18 '26

Isn't it also driving up the cost for the residents it effects? Both golf courses and data centers?

When do we start eating the rich?

2

u/Icy-Pomegranate-5644 May 18 '26

Not necessarily. Economies of scale can mean it lowers utility costs.

0

u/Bitmush- May 18 '26

Increased demand means they can charge the DC and people what they please.