Environmental impacts also driven by IT companies
The 2023 Environmental Report was recently released by Google. One of the points that draw attention is the water consumption by the company, which reached 21 billion liters last year, representing a 20% growth compared to the year 2021. This increase was largely due to the efforts of company in the development of artificial intelligence solutions, which requires the increasingly intense use of large data centers that use water for cooling.
the data centers
Data centers are collections of computers associated with large data repositories. Pedro Luiz Côrtes, professor at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) and the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEE) at USP, explains that most companies that work with information technology end up using large amounts of natural resources to maintain these data centers. “This whole structure generates a lot of heat due to the intensive consumption of electricity. In order for this temperature to be reduced, cooling systems normally use water. Part of this water is lost through evaporation, part is reused in the system itself, but Google’s impressive consumption of 21 billion liters is very noteworthy.”
The professor exemplifies the situation with the period of the bitcoin fever in the United States, whose energy consumption was concerned because it was similar to that of a small American town, but points out that the problem is widespread. “In the case of the United States, most of the time [energy] does not come from renewable sources, it is often generation from thermoelectric plants powered by fossil fuels, so this impact does not necessarily happen in the amount like Google, because Google is an international giant, but if we take big banks or big portals, all these players use data processing very intensively and consequently need very significant structures, which consume a lot of energy and also end up generating a lot of heat, so IT is not exempt from these environmental impacts.”
What can be done
Côrtes explains that there are ways to minimize the impacts of this heavy use of water. “What Google could do is encourage and invest a lot in reusing this water for cooling, avoiding evaporation loss to the atmosphere. This is what ends up happening, because this water in the cooling system ends up being heated and goes to cooling towers, where part of it evaporates. Ideally, he would reuse as much of that water as possible or invest in systems that use only air to cool the equipment. Also prioritize the use of renewable sources to supply electricity to its processing centers.”
Responsible actions taken by Google can contribute to greater awareness of the environmental impacts caused by technology companies. “As Google is a major player, a major international reference, these actions aimed at saving water and using electricity from renewable sources could serve as good international examples, showing everyone what can be done effectively”, he adds.