Khaberni - Europe aims to become a global center for artificial intelligence, but this ambition collides with a serious environmental obstacle: water scarcity.
The European Commission has announced plans to triple the capacity of data centers over the next seven years.
Experts warn that this expansion could exacerbate the water crisis, especially in the southern part of the continent, where about 30% of the population lives in areas suffering from "permanent water stress," according to a report published by CNBC and viewed by "Al Arabiya Business".
Digital Thirst
Data centers rely on huge amounts of water to cool servers and prevent them from overheating, which has made the investments of tech giants like "Amazon", "Microsoft", and "Meta" a concern for environmentalists, especially in countries like Spain and Greece, where there is chronic drought.
Kevin Griggs, a professor of water policies at Oxford University, said that building these centers in semi-arid areas reflects a lack of holistic thinking in policies, adding that local politicians strive to attract these investments with the incentive of creating job opportunities, but sustainability comes second.
Clash of Interests in Spain and the United Kingdom
In the region of Aragon, northeastern Spain, plans for "Amazon" to build three data centers face strong resistance from farmers, who fear that these facilities will consume their water shares.
In Britain, choosing the village of Culham as a location for the first "Artificial Intelligence Growth Zone" raised similar concerns, as it is close to the country's first new water reservoir in three decades.
The European Union bets on green computing
The European Commission states that the plans of the European Initiative for High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC) take into account energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, pointing out that the supercomputer "JUPITER" in Germany serves as a model to be emulated, as it operates entirely on renewable energy and reuses the heat generated from its operation.
Experts believe the problem is deeper than just water consumption for cooling, as more than half of the water footprint of data centers occurs off-site, in the stages of energy production and electronic chip manufacturing.
Technology companies are trying to limit water consumption through recycling and using non-potable water.
Microsoft says it is testing data centers that use no water at all, while the "Start Campus" facility in Portugal relies on desalinating seawater and recycling it to cool the systems.
Battle between sustainability and growth
These centers form the backbone of the European digital economy, generating trillions of dollars and millions of jobs, but scientists warn that the race towards artificial intelligence may further ignite the European water crisis.
Both the Netherlands and Ireland have imposed restrictions on building new data centers due to environmental concerns and energy shortages.
The European Environment Agency confirms that a third of the continent's population already lives in areas under severe water stress, making the "digital thirst" crisis a danger that threatens the future of the green continent.
