Amazon.com Inc.
12/12/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/12/2025 11:13
Amazon data centers: How much water and electricity do they really use
Key takeaways
- Data centerspower everything from social media apps to GPS navigation.
- Data centers use significantly less water than the clothing industry and don't drive up electricity rates.
- Amazon data centers create thousands of jobs and have reduced water use per kWh of server capacity (IT load) by 40% since 2021 despite AI growth.
Data centers have become an essential part of powering our daily lives. Everything from streaming showsand scrolling social media to enabling emergency 911 dispatch, managing bank accounts, storing medical records, and using GPS to guide us home is largely, if not fully, powered by a data center.
And as AIcontinues to develop, it will further transform how we work and live, much like personal computers or the internet did.
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This all means that the world will need more data centers to power the essential technology that we rely on. As more data centers are built to meet growing demand, communities have raised questions about their environmental impact and effect on local resources.
Here's what the data shows about how they affect electricity rates, water usage, job creation, and more.
What are data centers?
Data centers are specialized buildings that house the cloud computing infrastructure.
Despite its name, cloud computingdoesn't live in clouds-it lives in data centers. These buildings contain computing devices, hardware and software, networking equipment (like routers), and other forms of technology infrastructure. Put simply, every time we connect to the internet, send an email, or place an online order, we use a data center-which is the foundation of cloud computing.
This infrastructure helps power our everyday digital lives-whether it's connecting to friends and family via social media, working remotely, shopping online, or streaming movies. Almost everything that happens online depends on data centers. Without them, the internet as we know it wouldn't exist.
Data centers are not driving up your electricity rates
According to researchfrom Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), residential electricity prices in the U.S. have risen 27% over the past five years. Price jumps are linked to factors such as grid upgrade costs, inflation, extreme-weather recovery, wildfire mitigation, natural gas price spikes, and higher labor and health care costs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The same LBNL study also suggests that increased electricity demand can lower prices. Between 2019 and 2024, states with increases in electricity demand saw lower prices overall, with the biggest factors behind rising rates being infrastructure costs and disaster-proofing investments.
Amazon works with utilities on new and innovative agreements to keep rates comparably low and bring net-new carbon-free energy projects to the grid.
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"Amazon's investment in Mississippi data centers is helping us deliver better power at a lower cost to all our customers," Haley Fisackerly, president and chief executive officer of Energy Mississippi. "Through innovative agreements like these, we're able to save customers more than $2 billion on critical grid improvements-including our Superpower Mississippi plan which funds reliability upgrades at no additional cost to residential customers and will reduce bill increases by 16% over the next few years.
"When large customers like Amazon share in the infrastructure costs that benefit everyone, it fundamentally changes the rate trajectory. As other factors like fuel and materials push costs up, revenues from Amazon are helping us keep rates below the national average while cutting power outages in half. This is exactly the kind of partnership that transforms our grid and protects Mississippi families from higher electricity bills."
Data centers use significantly less water than making clothes or beef
Access to water is a basic human right, and our teams work hard to ensure that our data centers-and our operations-function efficiently. Amazon data centers have improved their water use efficiency by 40% since 2021.
We're taking multiple steps to make our data centers operate more efficiently, including implementing our custom designed In-Row Heat Exchanger (IRHX)-a closed-loop liquid cooling systemthat is 20% more power efficient than off-the-shelf solutions while using 9% less water than fully air-cooled sites. Data centers account for only 0.15% to 0.19% of U.S. freshwater consumption, and in many regions across the U.S. our data centers use water less than 5% of the year to support operations.
Water plays a crucial role across many aspects of modern life-from manufacturing and recreation to the technology that connects us. Industries like golf course maintenance, beef production, waterparks, clothing manufacturing, car washes, and beverage production all require significant water resources.
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While data centers have recently been in the spotlight for their water use, they use far less water than these industries, and they're continuously improving efficiency through innovative cooling technologies and water recycling systems. A single data center building in Indiana uses roughly one-third the water a commercial car wash uses in a year, for example.
Amazon is committed to being water positive by 2030, meaning we'll return more water to communities than we consume across our data center operations. We're already 53% of the way to this goal through conservation projects, water reuse programs, and replenishment initiatives that provide tangible benefits to local communities.
Data centers create new jobs
Data centers bring economic benefitsincluding tax revenue, high-paying jobs, and infrastructure improvements to local communities.
Amazon's data centers represent billions in local investment, create thousands of construction jobs, and create hundreds of long-term technical positions while supporting local suppliers, trades, and small businesses. Our data centers also generate substantial, recurring tax revenue that strengthens schools, public safety, infrastructure, and other essential services. In Virginia alone, Amazon data centers paid more than $540 million in taxes and fees last year.
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Data center development drives critical infrastructure improvements as well, including road upgrades, utility enhancements, and resiliency investments that benefit the entire region. Beyond the economic impact, Amazon invests directly in community programs, workforce development training, STEM education, and environmental stewardship, helping residents gain new skills and career pathways.
Far from serving only the cloud, data centers power local economies and expand opportunities for the communities they call home.
Data centers can help prevent outages
Modern data centers are increasingly becoming grid assets that enhance stability rather than threaten it. While data centers consume power, they're also becoming sophisticated participants in grid management.
Amazon works closely with utility partners to evaluate innovative ways that our data centers can support grid reliability, such as using on-site or off-site batteries. When evaluating potential participation in these programs, Amazon accounts for multiple factors, including community impact, sustainability, and how this supports overall grid reliability, and ensuring no impact to our customers' experience.
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The future of data centers
As AI and cloud computing continue to transform our world, data centers remain essential infrastructure. Amazon is committed to being a good neighbor anywhere we operate a data center-investing in efficiency innovations, supporting local communities, and working toward a sustainable energy future.
The conversation about data centers should address how we build and operate them in ways that benefit as many people as possible. That's exactly what Amazon is working to achieve-one data center at a time.
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Amazon.com Inc. published this content on December 12, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 12, 2025 at 17:13 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]