Microsoft has announced that its newest datacenter in Goodyear, Arizona will feature an innovative cooling system that eliminates the need for additional water once the system is operational.
The company estimates this design will save up to 160 million liters—or more than 42 million gallons—of water annually. Microsoft also plans to adopt this approach for many of its datacenters across the U.S. in the future.
The water savings are equivalent to filling Arizona State University’s Olympic-sized competition pool at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center approximately 63 times a year—around once a week. This pilot project underscores Microsoft’s commitment to sustainability and addresses water scarcity challenges in the Phoenix region.
Recently, Microsoft introduced its Datacenter Community Pledge, outlining its dedication to supporting the local economies and communities where its datacenters operate. A key focus of this pledge is safeguarding local watersheds, particularly in regions facing increasing water stress.
Traditionally, datacenters have used on-site water evaporation to lower the power demand of cooling systems. Microsoft is replacing these evaporative systems with mechanical cooling, which will increase power usage effectiveness. However, the company’s latest chip-level cooling solutions allow for higher cooling temperatures than previous IT hardware generations. This enables the use of high-efficiency economizing chillers with elevated water temperatures to offset power usage.
Microsoft’s new liquid cooling technologies utilize a closed-loop system that recycles water. Once filled during construction, the system continuously circulates water between servers and chillers to dissipate heat, eliminating the need for a fresh water supply.
Water efficiency is measured through Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE), calculated by dividing total annual water consumption for humidification and cooling by the total energy consumption of IT equipment. Microsoft has consistently invested in optimizing datacenter design and operations to reduce water usage.
In the last fiscal year, Microsoft’s datacenters achieved an average WUE of 0.30 L/kWh, a 39% improvement from 2021’s global average of 0.49 L/kWh, progress attributed to efforts in reducing water wastage, expanding operating temperature ranges, and auditing datacenter operations.
Microsoft has also increased the use of alternative water sources, such as reclaimed and recycled water, in locations including Texas, Washington, California, and Singapore.