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Improper redaction reveals Google Data Center water and electricity usage

356 points · 458 comments · sensanaty

  1. yeag123 · · focus · HN ↗
    As other commenters have pointed out, 13.3 million gallons = ~40.8 acre-feet and this being Nebraska, the obvious comparison is agriculture (Corn and Soybeans being the main crop).

    The average Nebraska farm is 989 acers[1] as of 2022 and uses roughly ~1,200 acre-feet of water (or roughly 390 million gallons) per year[2]. So a single average Nebraska farm uses roughly 30 times the water the Lincoln data center uses per year. There are 44,479 farms/ranches covering 44 million acres, which accounts for over 90% of the state's total land area.

    Until I looked this up, I didn't appreciate the scale of water usage in farming (even in a state like Nebraska that gets a large amount of rainfall compared to Central or Southern California). I hope that the current data center environmental focus continues to shed light on our industrial water and electrical usage.

    [1]<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;farmflavor.com&#x2F;nebraska&#x2F;nebraska-crops-livestock&#x2F;top-nebraska-agriculture-facts&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;farmflavor.com&#x2F;nebraska&#x2F;nebraska-crops-livestock&#x2F;top-... [2]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cropwatch.unl.edu&#x2F;2024&#x2F;2023-irrigation-and-water-management-data-now-available&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cropwatch.unl.edu&#x2F;2024&#x2F;2023-irrigation-and-water-man...

    1. goda90 · · focus · HN ↗
      The most fair comparison of water use would include evaporated vs soaked into the ground vs run off into rivers vs contained in the final product. As far as I&#x27;m aware, data centers are 100% evaporated while farms are going to be some percentage lower than that(though still high). Evaporating extra water can be detrimental to an area if the rainfall isn&#x27;t high enough, while soaking into the ground is fairly good.
      1. causesothere · · focus · HN ↗
        Plants evaporate a ton of water. So much so that corn fields create their own weather. A corn stalk is a high surface area, water infused, porous object. It&#x27;s sending tons of water into the air.
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