Water Savings Estimator
How much freshwater could a data center keep out of its cooling towers by capturing waste heat and sending it somewhere useful? Adjust the numbers to match a facility.
Estimated freshwater saved per year
17,496,856 gal
≈ 26.5 Olympic pools · 143 gal per MWh of computing
Baseline cooling water: 58,322,853 gal/year
Assumptions
- Energy used = IT load × utilization × 8,760 hours per year.
- Water use comes from typical industry water-usage effectiveness (WUE) values for each cooling type, in liters per kWh.
- Climate scales water use: hot/dry ×1.3, temperate ×1.0, cool ×0.7.
- Every unit of heat captured and reused is heat the cooling towers never have to evaporate water to remove — so savings scale directly with the share captured.
- 1 gallon = 3.785 liters; an Olympic pool ≈ 660,000 gallons.
Limitations — read before quoting
- This is a rough, order-of-magnitude estimate, not an engineering study.
- Real WUE varies widely by site, season, and water treatment; use a facility's measured WUE when available.
- Captured heat needs a buyer nearby (district heating, greenhouses, industry); without one, reuse can't happen.
- Heat demand is seasonal — summer, when cooling water peaks, is often when heat demand is lowest.
- It counts only on-site cooling water, not water used to generate the electricity.
- It doesn't generate energy; it only reduces the water spent getting rid of heat.
Concept and vision by Benjamin J Mudge · Get a tailored concept