As Utility Costs Rise, Durbin Introduces New Legislation To Bring Transparency To Energy & Water Consumption By Data Centers

WASHINGTON – As utility costs spike for Americans, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced theData Center Water and Energy Transparency Actto require data centers to disclose their energy and water usage. These data centers consume significant amounts of water and electricity, and often, the costs of this increased demand are passed down to American consumers. As growth in artificial intelligence (AI) spurs accelerated data center development, many data center operators have purchased water and energy rights decades into the future to ensure sustained operations.
The International Energy Agency estimates that a 100-megawatt data center may consume about the same amount of water as 2,600 households, and many proposed data centers are more than 10 times the size of a 100-megawatt center. There are approximately 4,000 active data centers in the U.S. with roughly 3,000 more planned or under construction. Rural counties, where water and power must be carefully managed, are increasingly targeted for data center development.
Community residents, local stakeholders, and state and local leaders should have access to accurate information about the energy and water needs of a data center to determine whether it is right for their community. Data center developers owe it to the communities they are building in to provide a fully transparent accounting of their energy and water needs.
“If you’ve noticed a sharp increase in your utility bills lately, it may be from the growth of energy-hungry data centers. Illinoisans deserve an honest analysis of the electricity and water needs of these data centers as they crop up around the country,”Durbin said.“TheData Center Water and Energy Transparency Actwould ensure that transparency exists by requiring data centers to disclose their energy and water usage.”
Specifically, theData Center Water and Energy Transparency Actwould:
Durbin wrote about the rising costs of water and electric bills in theChicago Tribuneearlier this month.
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