The Quest for Water Positivity: Amazon’selephant in the room
In 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS) moved closer to its ambitious goal of being “water positive” by replenishing more clean water than it uses. The company, which serves millions of customers across the globe, has announced a new initiative to expand its use of recycled water instead of consuming drinking water to cool its data centers. This effort marks a significant step toward optimizing its water use and aligning with sustainability goals.
By 2030, AWS aims to reduce water consumption among its data centers by 530 million gallons per year, a 53% increase from its current performance. Through this initiative, AWS will contribute an additional 1.4 quadrillion pounds of clean water to replenish the supply during peak hours, providing a sustainable and environmentally responsible alternative to its traditional water supply.
Originally, AWS utilized fans and evaporated water cooling systems to reduce its water footprint, but this has become increasingly challenging given the rise of data centers with servers operated at peakبه intense heat. The challenge is further compounded by the need to balance cooling for servers without wasting abundant resources.
To address these challenges, AWS is exploring innovative cooling solutions, including air cooling, water-reducing air conditioning, and direct evaporated water cooling. These strategies aim to optimize the use of resources while ensuring water conservation. Additionally, AWS is investing in water storage, rehabilitation of water-demanding regions, and the development of closed-loop cooling systems.
Despite these efforts, critics argue that the=nineem water used by power plants and servers dwarfs the amount used by cooling systems. Despite this, AWS has made significant strides in water efficiency, achieving a WUE (Water Utilization Efficiency) of 0.15 gallons of water per kilowatt-hour of power, compared to competitors like Microsoft with a WUE of 0.30 liters per kilowatt-hour.
Software developer Brian Biesemeyer notes that by 2030, AWS will not only preserve precious water supplies but also demonstrate that water reuse is a viable and sustainable solution for industries that consume substantial amounts of water. However, Amazon remains lured by its leadership in customer segments, such as data centers, that are more resource-intensive.
This innovative journey, driven by AWS’s commitment to sustainability and its global-native operations, has opened doors for other companies, including those based in Seattle and Microsoft, to closely follow. Microsoft, for instance, is expanding its water reuse initiatives to complement its efforts and further reducing its water footprint. Together, AWS and Microsoft are paving the way for a global trend towards more water-intropy practices.
