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Topic · Water

AI water use, in context

US AI data centers withdrew roughly 17.4 billion gallons in 2023 — about 0.004% of total US freshwater. Compare that with fashion, irrigation, thermoelectric power, and streaming.

01 — Water

Fashion's water footprint

The global fashion industry is one of the largest industrial water users on the planet — dwarfing AI data center water use by orders of magnitude.

93B
m³ / year

Global water consumption by the fashion industry — roughly 24.6 trillion gallons annually.

Source · UN Environment Programme, 2019
2,700
liters

Water to produce a single cotton T-shirt — enough drinking water for one person for ~2.5 years.

Source · WWF
~1,400×
vs AI

Fashion uses roughly 1,400× more water annually than all US AI data centers combined.

Source · UNEP / LBNL
Figure

Global fashion water use vs other major users (annual)

Billions of gallons per year. Sources: UNEP (2019), USGS (2020), LBNL (2023). US AI data centers shown for scale — orders of magnitude smaller.
Figure

Fashion vs AI data centers — annual water

Log scale. Billions of gallons per year. Sources: UNEP (fashion), LBNL (US AI data centers, 2023).
Figure

Global freshwater withdrawals by sector

Share of total global freshwater withdrawals. Source: FAO AQUASTAT Water Data Snapshot 2025.
Figure

US annual water use — AI data centers vs agriculture & power

Billions of gallons per year. Sources: LBNL 2024 (data centers), USDA NASS 2023 (irrigation), USGS (thermoelectric).
CategoryAnnual Water UseNotes
Global Fashion Industry~93 billion m³ (~24.6T gal)UNEP, 2019
One Cotton T-shirt~2,700 litersWWF
One Pair of Jeans~7,500–10,000 litersUNEP
Fashion Share of Industrial Wastewater~20%UN Environment
US AI Data Centers (Direct Cooling)~17.4 billion gallonsLBNL, 2024
Key takeaway

The global fashion industry uses roughly 1,400× more water per year than all US AI data centers combined.

01b — Streaming & Social

Streaming and social media's footprint

Video streaming and social platforms are some of the largest drivers of internet traffic — and a steadily growing share of global electricity and data center demand.

~1%
of global electricity

Data transmission networks consumed 260–360 TWh in 2022 — roughly 1–1.5% of global electricity. Video streaming dominates.

Source · IEA, 2023
65%
of internet traffic

Video streaming services (Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, etc.) accounted for ~65% of global downstream internet traffic in 2022.

Source · Sandvine Global Internet Phenomena Report, 2023
0.077
kWh / hr

Estimated electricity for one hour of Netflix streaming — roughly equivalent to running a low-energy LED bulb for 4 hours.

Source · IEA / Carbon Brief, 2020 (revised)
Figure

Estimated electricity per hour of use

Watt-hours per hour of typical use, including device, network, and data center. Sources: IEA (2020 revised), Carbon Brief, The Shift Project.
Key takeaway

Streaming video and social platforms together drive the majority of internet traffic and a meaningful share of global data center and network electricity — and that share is growing faster than AI inference.

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Sourced answers grounded in the figures cited on this page.

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