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Report: Data Centers Guzzling Enormous Amounts of Water to Cool Generative AI Servers
September 11th, 2023
Via Silicon Angle, a report on data centers’ use of water: Generative artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT are known to consume vast amounts of energy, but few people are aware of the enormous amounts of water required to keep them up and running too. In their latest environmental reports, Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC […]
Read more »Chasing Water Security
September 11th, 2023
Courtesy of Project Syndicate, commentary on how climate change is quickly reminding us that modern economies cannot function without water security, in all its varying forms. But, contrary to conventional wisdom, the best way to secure this crucial public good is to relearn past lessons, rather than to pursue radical new ideas: For decades, activists, […]
Read more »Africa’s Vast Underground Water Resources Are Under Pressure From Climate Change
September 7th, 2023
Via Phys.org, an article on Africa’s vast underground water resources which are under pressure from climate change—how to manage them: All countries have a variety of water resources—some are on the surface, like rivers, and some are beneath the ground. This groundwater provides almost 50% of all global domestic use and 43% of all the water used for agriculture. […]
Read more »Mind The Water Gap: Mapping World’s Water Shortages
August 30th, 2023
Via National Geographic, a detailed map of the world’s water shortages: Human water consumption has soared. In some parts of the planet, the demand is greater than rivers or groundwater can sustain. Schoolbooks show a simple picture of the water cycle—water evaporates from the ocean, drifts in clouds over land, falls as rain, flows in […]
Read more »Is Desalination the Answer?
August 22nd, 2023
Via Milken Institute Review, commentary on desalination: Every fifth-grader hooked on adventure stories devours tales of shipwrecked sailors drinking seawater, with fatal results. The nerdy adult version of that adventure might be Saudi Arabia’s fantasies of towing (salt-free) icebergs from Antarctica back in the 1970s. And, of course, if you’re a Californian worried more about […]
Read more »Extreme Water Stress Faced By 25% of World’s Population
August 17th, 2023
Via The Guardian, a report on the extreme water stress faced by countries home to quarter of world population, where twenty-five countries are using 80% of their water supplies each year: Twenty-five countries that are home to a quarter of the world’s population are facing extreme water stress, according to new research. Data from the World […]
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