Amazon highlights water and energy efficiency of its data centres

The rapid expansion of data centres has intensified scrutiny over their environmental impact, particularly around energy consumption and water use. As part of its planned $21 billion investment in cloud infrastructure in India, Amazon has outlined measures aimed at improving the sustainability of its data centre operations.

In a blog post, the company said, “Every data centre Amazon builds in India is designed to use less energy, avoid drinking water and give back to the communities around it.”

Amazon said none of its operational data centres in India use water for cooling, relying instead on air-cooled chillers. The company added that only minimal potable water is used at its facilities for basic human needs, while prioritising the use of recycled water wherever possible.

The company claimed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres are 7x more water efficient than industry average, meaning they use less water for each unit of compute. It further highlighted that it already operates 26 data centres globally using recycled water.

Amazon said it plans to put sewage water to good use through recycling for air cooling purposes at its newest data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad. “This ensures we never draw on drinking water supply for cooling our data centres. Using recycled water for cooling also means less power is consumed from the grid, making more power available for other consumers in the vicinity,” the blog post highlighted.

In addition, Amazon has committed to being water positive by 2030. The post said, in India it has achieved water positivity ahead of its 2027 target returning 120% of the water used across all its direct operations.

Amazon said it has continuously made investments into making its entire technology operations energy efficient. It claimed that AWS infrastructure is 4.1 times more energy efficient than on-premises data centres.

“Wherever possible in India, we draw power from our own dedicated extra high-voltage substation, planned in coordination with local utility authorities. We take utmost care to ensure that our data centres do not draw or divert power from the local distribution grid that serves residents and commercial consumers,” the post highlighted.

Amazon said it is investing heavily in renewable energy projects in India such as wind and solar energy for its operations. This comprises 53 solar and wind projects across the country.

“These projects are collectively capable of generating more than 4 million megawatt (MW) hours of renewable energy – enough to power the equivalent of over 1.3 million Indian homes annually,” the blog post highlighted.