Water Usage Effectiveness
Info
WUE is one important data center sustainability metric.
WUE describes how efficiently a data center uses water: How much water is used in relation to the energy consumption.
Formula:
Notes:
- Standardized according to ISO/IEC 30134-9 / DIN EN 50600-4-9
- The metric focuses on consumption during operation, i.e. consumption during production, for example, is not included
- A lower WUE value means that the data center consumes less water during operation for the same energy consumption, i.e. it is more water-efficient; a value of 0 m³/kWh would be ideal
- So far, only a few sustainability-focused cloud providers publish the WUE figures of their data centers (e.g. Scaleway, OVHcloud)
- Measures for improvement:
- Cooling with outside air instead of water
- Use more efficient cooling systems
- Recycle and reuse water
- Use non-drinking water sources (gray water or rainwater)
- Whether absolute water consumption is a problem from a sustainability perspective depends on the conditions in the respective region: If the local population already suffers from water scarcity, a DC with (high) water consumption can exacerbate the situation
Cloud Providers
2023:
- AWS: 0.18 L/kWh (source: Sustainability Report 2023)
- Azure: ? (2021: 0.49 L/kWh, source: post in Azure blog)
- Google: ?
- OVHcloud: 0.30 L/kWh (source: Non Financial Performance Statement 2023)
- Scaleway: 0.216 L/kWh (source: Impact Report 2024)