Metric measuring a data centre's water consumption relative to the IT energy delivered.
WUE measures a data centre's water consumption relative to the energy used by its IT equipment, expressed in litres per kilowatt-hour. It complements PUE by illuminating a long-neglected externality: the water needs of evaporative cooling, particularly intense in the hot, dry regions where centres are sometimes located. The rise of artificial intelligence has worsened this issue, since training and inference of large models concentrate high thermal density. For the insurer, WUE is a dual risk indicator: operational, since a water shortage can constrain operation and trigger a business interruption; and reputational or regulatory, since a high-consumption site in a water-stressed area is exposed to usage restrictions. WUE thus links infrastructure risk and physical climate risk tied to resource availability.
A data centre cooled by evaporation in an area classified as high water stress by the WRI Aqueduct combines an unfavourable WUE and growing regulatory exposure.
WUE, efficacité d'utilisation de l'eau, water usage effectiveness