Texas Researchers Say Permian Wastewater Could Cool AI Data Centers

The artificial intelligence boom is placing a dangerous strain on the world’s water and energy resources. As hyperscalers build up resource-hungry data centers at a breakneck pace, demand projections for these finite resources are skyrocketing faster than policymakers can keep pace. But a new study from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin suggests that there may be a way to sustainably source water for data centers by using wastewater from the oil and gas industry.

The water and energy use of AI data centers is enormous…