Events

Eric Masanet — Analyzing data center water demands: Best practices and critical questions

Center for Urban Science + Progress
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Lecture / Panel
 
Open to the Public
Headshot of Eric Masanet

The Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP) and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NYU Tandon welcome you to attend the lecture "Analyzing data center water demands: Best practices and critical questions" by Eric Masanet, Professor and Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies at UC Santa Barbara. This event will be held in Room 1201, located on the 12th Floor of 370 Jay St. at NYU Tandon’s Downtown Brooklyn campus.
 

​​​​​About the Lecture

​Analyzing data center water demands: Best practices and critical questions
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Concerns about AI's water footprint are growing, especially at local levels as data center projects proliferate. The water implications of this unprecedented data center buildout are yet unknown but will depend on combinations of interrelated factors, including site selection, cooling technologies, operational characteristics such as equipment set points and "free cooling" configurations, local climates, and local grid mixes. The wide range of potential outcomes has led to large variance in literature estimates of future water demand, ranging from "not a problem" to "environmental crisis" in their magnitudes. This presentation will first demystify data center water demand by systematically reviewing its technological and thermodynamic drivers. Next, the current scales of, and possible future trends in, data center water demand will be assessed based on the largest empirical water efficiency dataset compiled to date and a novel model for simulating future data center water use. Finally, it will conclude with a review of best practices for analyzing data center water demand and critical questions for any consumer of such estimates to ask before using them.

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​​​​​About the Speaker

​​Dr. Eric Masanet is a Professor and the Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies at UC Santa Barbara Bren - Bren School of Environment.

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​​​​​Visitor Information

​This event will be held in Room 1201, located on the 12th Floor of 370 Jay St. at NYU Tandon’s Downtown Brooklyn campus. For directions and a campus map, go to the Visit Tandon page. Advance registration through Luma is required for campus access at NYU for external guests.