"the world's largest cloud company claimed that its global data center operations used 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour (L/kWh) in 2025, which it claimed was seven times more efficient than the industry average of 0.84 L/kWh.". If ever there was a misuse of statistics, there it is!
For one thing, no-one knows what "the industry average" is...most DCs keep these numbers confidential.
What I think I can say with some certainty though, is that in Europe, the average will be a lot lower than AWS's global figure, because most installed capacity uses closed-loop water systems and water harvesting is also used in places. I would love to see the hyperscalers and colocation industry fall over themselves to publish their own figures, but I think I could be waiting a long time...
"the world's largest cloud company claimed that its global data center operations used 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour (L/kWh) in 2025, which it claimed was seven times more efficient than the industry average of 0.84 L/kWh.". If ever there was a misuse of statistics, there it is! For one thing, no-one knows what "the industry average" is...most DCs keep these numbers confidential. What I think I can say with some certainty though, is that in Europe, the average will be a lot lower than AWS's global figure, because most installed capacity uses closed-loop water systems and water harvesting is also used in places. I would love to see the hyperscalers and colocation industry fall over themselves to publish their own figures, but I think I could be waiting a long time...