Why Data Centers Water and Electricity Use Are Continuing to Increase
12/19/2025 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Electricity and water use by data centers is rising fast.
A new report finds electricity use and carbon emissions from California data centers nearly doubled in recent years, with water use climbing even more. Researchers say limited transparency makes it hard to measure impacts, as lawmakers have stalled or rejected efforts to add oversight.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
Why Data Centers Water and Electricity Use Are Continuing to Increase
12/19/2025 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
A new report finds electricity use and carbon emissions from California data centers nearly doubled in recent years, with water use climbing even more. Researchers say limited transparency makes it hard to measure impacts, as lawmakers have stalled or rejected efforts to add oversight.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipCalifornia is a major hub for data centers.
The facilities that store and transmit much of the internet.
A new report by the environmental think tank next ten and a UC Riverside researchers estimate that electricity use and carbon emissions by California data centers nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023, while on site water consumption more than doubled slightly in the same time span.
Energy needed to run artificial intelligence computations probably has boosted demand, but many of the report's estimates, including about health impacts, are based on limited data.
A key obstacle researchers found in crafting the report.
Experts say transparency around energy and water use is essential to better understand what resources data centers demand in California.
But efforts to add guardrails around data centers have struggled in Sacramento recently.
California lawmakers approved a plan to tie California's power grid to other states, in part to serve hungry data.. but they shelved most consumer and environmental proposals aimed at data centers.
And Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a proposal that would have required data center operators to report their water use, even after the bills weakened.
Newsom, who's often highlighted California's dominance in the AI sector, signed only one related measure allowing regulators to determine whether data centers are driving up costs.
One reason hard facts about data centers are tough to find.
most rent out power cooling and floor space to other companies, said one of the report's co-authors.
In such co-location facilities, companies don't always run their own servers or technology, so they report less information publicly than enterprise data centers elsewhere.
Estimates vary, but California has the third most data centers in the country, after Texas and Virg.. Data Center map, a commercial directory that tracks data centers worldwide, lists 321 sites across the state.
More in California are expected in coming years.
For CalMatters, I'm Robert Meeks, with reporting by Alejandro Lazo.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal