More than half of data centers worldwide are in areas facing extreme heat or drought, making them vulnerable to periodic shutdowns from power outages or water restrictions, according to a new report.
Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity and water for operations and cooling. But the analysis — released early Thursday by First Street climate modelers — found that 54 percent of all data centers are located in areas facing “chronic stress conditions such as extreme heat or water scarcity.”
“In other words,” the analysis said, “scale is being built where operating conditions are hardest, not where they’re easiest.”
The analysis follows a March report by Swiss Re Institute showing that a large number of data centers are in areas vulnerable to disasters such as extreme winds and damaging hailstorms. Swiss Re said that the needs for land and renewable energy to build the warehouse-sized centers “are increasingly driving their development in more natural-catastrophe exposed areas.”
