Wire · operational-macro
US data center electricity use could more than double by 2030, water use could quadruple by 2028
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Fusion42 · 21 July 2026 · Fusion42 review
US data centre electricity consumption could exceed 426 TWh by 2030 (more than doubling from current levels), whilst water use could quadruple by 2028, creating acute supply pressures on regional grids and freshwater availability. Policy responses reveal tension between state economic incentives for data centre development and local environmental and community concerns.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Cloud Infrastructure and Data Infrastructure, and 3 sources have reported it.
◆ ◆ The Wire takeaway
If you build anything that runs on data centre compute—AI, cloud services, fintech—your unit economics just got hostage to grid and water politics. States will compete for your location by waiving environmental rules; communities will fight back; your operating costs will rise where you thought they were locked in.
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3 sources · 21 Jul 2026
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