Most data centers refusing to say how much water, electricity they use

A year-long investigation by Lighthouse Report with partner outlets found that most European data centers refuse to disclose their energy and water consumption, and freedom-of-information requests yielded little additional data. The European Energy Efficiency Directive requires reporting from centers with installed capacity of 500 kW or more, but compliance is poor three years after the rule took effect. In the Netherlands there were 186 commercial sites at that threshold last year; the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) holds records for 104, yet public figures exist for electricity use at only 44 centers and for drinking-water use at 47. RVO says it holds more information but did not release further figures, and major operators such as Google decline to disclose detailed usage.

The refusal to publish usage matters because data-center demand has surged with cloud services and AI. Statistics Netherlands reports 5.1 billion kWh consumed by data centers in 2024, equal to 4.6% of national electricity and nearly double five years earlier. Grid operator TenneT expects data centers to use 10-15% of Dutch power by 2030, while individual facilities can be enormous - one Microsoft site accounts for about 1% of national electricity. Water use is estimated at roughly 0.1% of national consumption, small but sensitive amid increasing drought and grid capacity shortages that delay other businesses and housing projects.