{"id":267159,"date":"2026-06-08T05:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/price-of-progress-ai-is-rapidly-depleting-the-earths-water-resources\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T05:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T09:50:18","slug":"price-of-progress-ai-is-rapidly-depleting-the-earths-water-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/price-of-progress-ai-is-rapidly-depleting-the-earths-water-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Price of progress: AI is rapidly depleting the Earth’s water resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Price of progress: AI is rapidly depleting the Earth’s water resources<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/universemagazine.com\/en\/artificial-intelligence-poses-a-greater-threat-to-the-earths-environment-than-humans\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-08 05:01:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: universemagazine.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Data centers, which serve as the vital foundation for artificial intelligence (AI), are increasing their energy demands every year. According to experts\u2019 forecasts, by 2030 they will consume a staggering 945 TWh of electricity annually. For comparison: this is more than seven times Ukraine\u2019s current annual energy consumption.<\/p>\n

The cost of progress, with the rapid development of AI, could deal a \u201csevere\u201d blow to Earth\u2019s fragile ecosystem. Illustrative photo: Unsplash<\/p>\n

However, energy consumption is just the tip of the iceberg. Every request processed leaves behind not only a carbon footprint but also a \u201cwater footprint\u201d due to server cooling, as well as a \u201cland footprint\u201d from infrastructure construction and supply chain maintenance.<\/p>\n

Water and Earth<\/h2>\n

A new study by the United Nations University (UNU) highlights a critical issue: the environmental impact of AI is being measured incorrectly. Researchers typically focus solely on greenhouse gas emissions, while ignoring the depletion of other resources. According to experts\u2019 estimates, by the end of the decade, AI will require as much water as is needed to meet the basic domestic needs of 1.3 billion people.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/AI is depleting the planet\u2019s water resources. Photo: Unsplash<\/p>\n

In terms of land area, the infrastructure will expand to over 14,500 square kilometers\u2014twice the size of the Jakarta metropolitan area. The report\u2019s authors warn that even the transition to \u201cgreen\u201d energy to reduce emissions could backfire, as some renewable sources require even more land and water resources.<\/p>\n

The environment\u2019s main enemy<\/h2>\n

There is a common misconception that the most resources are consumed during the training phase of new AI models. However, statistics show that 80% to 90% of energy is actually consumed during the daily use of these services. Just one popular platform processes approximately 2.5 billion requests per day, consuming hundreds of GWh per year.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Data center….
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Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Price of progress: AI is rapidly depleting the Earth’s water resources https:\/\/universemagazine.com\/en\/artificial-intelligence-poses-a-greater-threat-to-the-earths-environment-than-humans\/ Publish Date: 2026-06-08…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267160,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/universemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/nasa-q1p7bh3shj8-unsplash.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267161,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267159\/revisions\/267161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}