Data centers use massive energy and water. Here’s how to build them better

Shawn Cutter•Tim Peters•January 15, 2025

Sustainable data center campus with workers and community produce stand

EA Take

This Fast Company piece captures the urgency of rethinking data center design. EnergiAcres’ circular model—where heat, CO₂, and water each serve double duty—is exactly the kind of innovation the industry needs.

Powering AI and Growing Food: How EnergiAcres is Rewriting the Energy Playbook

Shawn Cutter joins Carrie Charles on Broadstaff’s Let’s Get Digital to discuss circular-economy AI infrastructure.

Like the discovery of fire: Can Florida handle AI’s massive energy demand?

Tampa Bay 28 explores whether Florida’s grid can keep up with the explosive energy demands of AI infrastructure.

A hidden solution to Ohio’s data center dilemma

Tim Ryan and Shawn Cutter make the case for pairing data centers with agriculture to solve Ohio’s infrastructure challenge.

Rainwater could help satisfy AI’s water demands

Justin Talbot Zorn and Bettina Warburg explore how rainwater harvesting can address data centers’ growing water needs.

Ohio can solve the electric grid’s biggest problem, and grow food while doing it

In April, researchers at the International Energy Agency projected that electricity consumption from data centers that power AI and cloud computing will more than double by 2030.

Data centers can stack sustainability, energy innovations

Data center developers should seize opportunities to benefit communities and the environment, write a former Ohio member of Congress and a sixth-generation farmer.

America Should Harvest a Trillion Gallons of Rainwater

Justin Talbot Zorn argues that America is leaving a trillion gallons of free water on the table every year.