Australia’s pipeline of huge data center projects has raised questions about how much energy and water these giant server farms will use.
These questions aren’t simple to answer because we don’t have the data.
We can’t check water or energy use for individual facilities or inspect national data center statistics, and no operator is obliged to disclose these figures.
That may change. Last month, the National Cabinet agreed to develop mandatory national standards for large data centers, covering energy, water and land use. The legislation is due early next year.
No detail is available, and little has been said about their lifetime environmental footprints, from land clearing to noise issues to electronic waste to greenhouse gas emissions. These must be counted too.
The fastest way to settle arguments about the environmental impact of the data center boom is to collect and publish the data.
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