Canada wants a lot more AI computing on home soil, but hasn’t decided how to compute the water that keeps it running.
of the federal strategy “AI for all”.released on June 4, projects that the country will need 5.5 gigawatts of commercial computing over the next four yearsand commits to 850 megawatts of domestic capacity by 2030. But there aren’t many details on how water and land use will be measured or managed.
In power, Canada has a real advantage. According to The Conversation, more than 83% of the grid runs on low-emission sourceswhich can reduce the emissions of running a data center by up to 90%.
Water does not get the same response.
Wafr Technologies announced on July 2 that it raised $100 million toward a $300 million goal to build an AI research lab in Canada. This lab will anchor a proprietary cooling technology that the company says reduces data center water use by up to 95% and cooling power draw by up to 80%.
According to their press release, a typical data center uses up to 10 million liters of water per megawatt per year, with cooling consuming 30 to 45% of the total electricity load. As workloads grow, more of the real cost and compliance questions come from the data center down, rather than the model itself.
So far, Wafr’s technology has been demonstrated in India and Dubai, but not yet on a Canadian scale. The lab is planned, not built, and growth is a third of the way there.
“Our vision is to build a globally recognized AI research lab in Canada and be a leader in how we can reduce the impact on water and energy,” says Bikram Singh, co-founder and CEO of Wafr Technologies.
When the CIO or CISO signs a cloud or data center contract, asking what the provider does for cooling and water is a fair question. It may even be one that your board or CFO will reach before you do.
The last shots
- Canada’s AI strategy relies on the clean grid to tackle emissions, but leaves water use largely unaddressed, so the resource question falls to whoever is running the math.
- Cooling can eat 30 to 45% of a data center’s electrical load and millions of gallons of water per megawatt, which puts efficiency in the operating budget, not the sustainability ratio.
- Cooling and water use are now fair questions for any computing contract, and the answer is the kind of thing a board or CFO can achieve before the technology leader does.
