Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use
Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use
大多数数据中心拒绝披露其水、电消耗量
The vast majority of data centers in Europe keep information about their environmental impact secret, according to a study by Lighthouse Report in collaboration with Trouw and other European media. In the Netherlands, less than a quarter of larger data centers publish data about their electricity and drinking water usage. 根据 Lighthouse Report 与《忠诚报》（Trouw）及其他欧洲媒体合作的一项研究显示，欧洲绝大多数数据中心对其环境影响信息守口如瓶。在荷兰，只有不到四分之一的大型数据中心公开了其电力和饮用水的使用数据。
The researchers spent a year trying to obtain data on data centers’ environmental impact in Europe, invoking freedom of information laws in various European countries. Their attempts have yielded no results. The European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) obliges data centers with an installed capacity of at least 500 kilowatts (kW) to report data including their energy and water consumption. In practice, few do so, despite the directive being in effect for three years. 研究人员花费了一年时间，试图通过援引欧洲各国的《信息自由法》来获取有关数据中心环境影响的数据，但他们的尝试均未取得成果。根据《欧洲能源效率指令》（EED），装机容量至少为 500 千瓦（kW）的数据中心必须报告包括能源和水消耗在内的数据。尽管该指令已生效三年，但在实践中，很少有数据中心这样做。
According to the Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA), there were 186 commercial data centers with a capacity of 500 kW or more in the Netherlands at the end of last year. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), which collects the information for the EU, has data on only 104 of them. The RVO also lacks crucial data regarding water and energy consumption. Public figures exist on the electricity usage of 44 centers and the water usage of 47 - less than a quarter of the larger Dutch data centers. The RVO told Trouw that it has more data on some centers, but did not provide figures. 据荷兰数据中心协会（DDA）统计，截至去年年底，荷兰共有 186 家容量在 500 千瓦或以上的数据中心。负责为欧盟收集相关信息的荷兰企业局（RVO）仅掌握其中 104 家的数据。RVO 同时缺乏关于水和能源消耗的关键数据。目前仅有 44 家中心的用电数据和 47 家中心的用水数据公开，这还不到荷兰大型数据中心总数的四分之一。RVO 向《忠诚报》表示，他们确实掌握更多中心的数据，但并未提供具体数字。
Data centers have become increasingly prolific in recent years with the rise of first cloud services and then AI applications. The number of data centers has skyrocketed, and with them the consumption of electricity for operations and drinking water for cooling the thousands of servers involved. According to the latest figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), data centers used 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in the Netherlands in 2024. That is 4.6 percent of the country’s total electricity consumption, a near doubling in five years. 近年来，随着云服务和人工智能应用的兴起，数据中心数量激增。随之而来的是用于运营的电力消耗，以及用于冷却数千台服务器的饮用水消耗。根据荷兰统计局（CBS）的最新数据，2024 年荷兰数据中心的用电量为 51 亿千瓦时。这占该国总用电量的 4.6%，在五年内几乎翻了一番。
Grid operator TenneT projects that data centers will consume 10 to 15 percent of the Netherlands’ electricity by 2030. That while a lack of grid capacity has businesses, institutions, and even housing developments on waiting lists. Data from the RVO revealed this summer that Microsoft’s largest data center in the Netherlands alone accounts for 1 percent of the national electricity consumption. Google, which has two large data centers in the Netherlands, does not disclose this information. 电网运营商 TenneT 预计，到 2030 年，数据中心将消耗荷兰 10% 到 15% 的电力。与此同时，电网容量的不足已导致企业、机构甚至住房开发项目被迫排队等待。RVO 今年夏天披露的数据显示，仅微软在荷兰最大的数据中心就占了全国用电量的 1%。而在荷兰拥有两座大型数据中心的谷歌，则并未披露此类信息。
Little is known about data centers’ water usage. In the Netherlands, it is estimated that they account for about 0.1 percent of total consumption. That is a small proportion, but climate change is making conservative water usage increasingly critical with prolonged periods of drought and water shortages. 人们对数据中心的用水情况知之甚少。据估计，在荷兰，数据中心的用水量约占总用水量的 0.1%。虽然比例很小，但随着气候变化导致长期干旱和缺水，节约用水正变得日益关键。