Fig. 5: The pathways towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions and water footprints for US AI servers.
a, The contributions of each influential factor to the water footprint and carbon emissions of AI servers with best and worst practices under the mid-case scenario. The total contributions of each factor from 2024 to 2030 are also listed. The curves above the 0 level indicate the increase of carbon emissions and water footprint, while the curves below represent the reductions. The grey area represents the residual footprints that need to be reduced. b, Presentation of the capacity of residual carbon emissions and water footprints to attain net-zero targets under different temporal scenarios for each year spanning from 2024 to 2030, under both best- and worst-practice scenarios. Specifically, the top and bottom 25% of locations are used to create the best and worst cases for spatial distribution. The best grid development practice is modelled under the LRC scenario, and the worst is modelled under the HRC scenario.
