Description:

This session explores the complex relationship between AI workloads, data centre cooling strategies and water consumption, with a specific focus on the Australian context, where water scarcity, climate variability and sustainability targets are already placing pressure on infrastructure design. 

Attendees will gain insight into how HVAC system selection, cooling architectures and operational strategies can significantly influence both water usage and overall environmental impact.

The discussion will examine current and emerging approaches - including air-cooled versus water-cooled systems, hybrid and liquid cooling solutions, heat recovery, free cooling, and advanced controls - and how these technologies can support resilient, low-water data centre designs without compromising performance or uptime.