EU moves to make large data centres disclose their energy and water efficiency

The European Commission has launched a new data-centre efficiency package that would require large facilities to disclose comparable information about their electricity and water performance as Europe’s demand for computing capacity accelerates.

Under the proposal, operators of data centres with installed IT power demand of 500 kilowatts or more would be required to report efficiency information through an EU labelling system.

The disclosures would cover energy and water performance, including information connecting a facility’s water consumption with local water stress and its potential to reuse waste heat.

The proposed rules do not impose limits on how much electricity or water individual data centres can consume.

Data-centre capacity expected to more than double

The measures arrive as Europe prepares for a substantial expansion of computing infrastructure driven partly by artificial intelligence.

EU data-centre capacity is expected to increase from approximately 12 gigawatts today to 28 GW by 2030.

That expansion will require additional electricity while increasing scrutiny of water consumption, particularly where data centres rely on water-intensive cooling systems in areas already facing supply pressure.

The Commission’s proposed labelling system is intended to make the performance of different facilities more transparent and comparable.

It would also provide information about whether heat generated by servers could be captured and reused rather than released into the surrounding environment.

Minimum standards remain under consultation

The Commission is separately considering whether data centres should eventually face minimum performance standards.

Those standards are not part of the current disclosure requirements.

Instead, Brussels has opened a 12-week consultation examining possible future efficiency requirements.

That process could ultimately lead to mandatory minimum standards, but no such thresholds have yet been adopted.

The distinction is important: the measures announced on September 21 concern measurement, disclosure and labelling, while limits on minimum performance remain a future policy option under consultation.

AI expansion puts infrastructure under scrutiny

Europe is simultaneously attempting to expand its AI capabilities and the physical computing infrastructure needed to support them.

Larger AI systems require substantial data-centre capacity, making electricity supply, cooling and infrastructure increasingly important parts of technology policy.

The Commission’s latest proposals would not restrict that expansion.

They would instead create a common system for measuring and publishing some of its resource costs.

With EU data-centre capacity expected to more than double by 2030, electricity and water efficiency are becoming measurable parts of Europe’s computing buildout rather than largely invisible infrastructure costs.

Sources

• Reuters: EU proposes energy-efficiency label for data centres